A community in Scotland are planning to take legal action to adopt a baby boy found dead on their estate.

The residents on the deprived Edinburgh estate are planning the unique legal action to try to prevent the baby being buried in an unmarked grave.

A report in The Scotman says residents have set up the Niddrie and Craigmillar Baby Fund to raise money for the baby's funeral and met solicitors from an Edinburgh law firm earlier this week.

A local stonemason has already agreed to donate a headstone and residents are hoping to arrange a poll so that the community can vote on a name which will be inscribed on the boy's gravestone.

A space on the headstone would be left so that if the baby's real name was ever discovered, it could be added later.

At the moment it is thought that if the mother does not come forward, the newborn baby, who was discovered burnt and mutilated, will be buried with a blank headstone.

Billy Frank, who found the baby and who sits on the Niddrie and Craigmillar Baby Fund, told The Scotsman: "We are taking legal advice on whether we can 'adopt' the baby so we can name him ourselves.

"We know that usually in a situation like this the community would not take responsibility with this - it lies with the police - but this is a community baby and we want a chance to bury him with a name.

"It's a human being's life that we are talking about at the end of the day and we should be allowed to give him a decent burial."

Meanwhile, the search for the baby's mother continues and police say they are keen to speak to a teenage girl who was spotted sobbing in the arms of a man on a Craigmillar bench hours before the infant was discovered.

The baby was found, a few days old, naked and burned, among the litter in a desolate corner of the Craigmillar estate at 8am on Sunday, March 11.

The infant had a shock of dark hair and was lying on his side, fists drawn up towards his chest. Nearby lay a Babygro and a petrol can.

Police have urged anyone with information to call 0131 311 3770.