All parents fear a mix-up in the maternity ward. But there was no mix-up for Angela and Ben Ihegbro. The black couple, from Woolwich in south London, were amazed when Angela, 35, gave birth to a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, white baby.

Nmachi Ihegboro was born at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup, Kent. It’s not unheard-of for mixed-race couples of West Indian origin to have children of significantly different colour – because of white ancestry – but Angela and Ihegbro are of Nigerian origin, and are not aware of any mixed-race family history.

Furthermore, doctors insist that baby Nmachi is not an albino because she has pigmentation in her eyes and hair. Professor Brian Sykes, head of Human Genetics at Oxford University, believes the unusual condition is the result of an undocumented form of genetic mutation.

Nmachi’s, which means “beauty of God” in Nigerian, joins sisters Chisom, four, and Dunebi, two.

Angela Ihegbro told The Sun newspaper: “Nmachi’s colour doesn’t matter. She’s a miracle baby. But still, what on earth happened here?”

That was surely a question that popped into Ben’s head at the moment of birth. But he doesn’t suspect any wrongdoing. “Of course, she’s mine,” he told the newspaper, “my wife is true to me. Even if she hadn’t been, the baby still wouldn’t look like that.”