A DESPERATE mother-of-three wants a missing smartphone returned that contains irreplaceable photographs of her newborn daughter who remains in intensive care.

Kaylee Brown had documented in a series of pictures the life of five-week-old Halle-Mae – born 11 weeks premature – but all the images have disappeared along with her iPhone 5S over the weekend.

The full-time mother, of Plodder Lane, Farnworth, said: “I’m devastated and I’m offering a £50 reward.

“It was everything that I was going to put in a keepsake box for her.

“It’s all pictures of her going through the stages of her getting better.”

Halle-Mae was born at Royal Bolton Hospital weighing 2lb and 11oz and was immediately taken to the intensive care unit. On the third day she contracted an unknown bacterial infection.

Ms Brown said: “She was in critical condition and was on a life support machine.

“She got better and then caught meningitis for which she is finishing a course of antibiotics.

“It has gone but she is going to have to to hospital for another two years.

“I have never taken her home yet.”

Halle-Mae has spent her entire short life in hospital and Ms Brown, aged 21, and her partner Josh Arbuckle, aged 20, were only allowed to actually hold her two weeks ago.

She remains in intensive care in a stable condition and is due to be moved to the special care unit. It is hoped she can be discharged in January.

Ms Brown said: “I have one picture left, the first picture of me cuddling her for the first time, which I uploaded to Facebook.

“I don’t care about the phone, it’s all about the photos. They’re not backed up to iCloud so there’s no chance of getting them back without the phone.

“It’s all memories, everything I wanted to show her when she is older.”

The iPhone 5S is white with a silver back and a crack on the screen.

It went missing while Ms Brown - mother to Hardy, aged nine months, with Mr Arbuckle and Harmony, aged four, from a previous relationship - was enjoying a night out with Mr Arbuckle and friends in Bolton on Saturday evening.

The 21-year-old noticed the device missing from her handbag when they were leaving the venue at 4am on Sunday although no other possessions, including a second phone, were taken.

She suspects the gadget was stolen in McCauley’s bar as she has checked with the minicab firm that took the group home to ensure she did not accidentally leave it in the taxi.

An online appeal to trace the phone and its treasured contents has been shared 600 times in Facebook.

n If you have information about the missing phone and the photographs send Ms Brown a message via her Facebook profile at www.facebook.com/kaylee.brown.58173