A housemaid who had been refused holiday allegedly murdered her employers' baby in a last-ditch attempt to get time off work.

The woman, who worked for an Indian couple in Dubai, was arrested on suspicion of suffocating the girl with a wet rag while she slept.

The parents returned home from work on Sunday to find their only child had died from what they initially thought was natural causes.

But an autopsy later ruled that she had been suffocated, it was reported by Gulf News.

When questioned by police, the housemaid said she was angry after being denied time off work to travel back to her home country.

She said the child's mother had started a new job and the husband was unable to take leave from work to look after the baby.