The investigation into the death of a baby, found in a bag in a garden shed in the Noord-Holland town of Heerhugowaard earlier this month, has turned up a second dead child.

The find was made in a house in the street where the first baby was found but has only just been made public, police said on Tuesday.

This is because police first wanted to carry out DNA research on the bodies to establish if they were related to two woman at the centre of the investigation, news agency ANP says.

One woman, aged 34, lives in the house where the first baby was found and says it was left in her shed by a neighbour. The other woman under investigation is the owner of the bag, who is 35 and said to have drug issues.

According to news agency ANP, neither woman is the mother of the babies.

The police have declined to say any more about the babies and if they are related to each other ‘in the interests of the investigation’.