Baby

The body of a female child was found on top of a water hydrant in Wincobank Lane by three boys on 17 June 1934.

A woman said that shortly before the body was found she had seen two men walking towards the hydrant, both carrying parcels, saying that they both looked suspicious. She said that one of the men carried a parcel that was about two feet long of which the outer covering was brown paper. However, she said that she didn't think that the man had gone up to the hydrant, but said that she later saw him folding the brown paper.

A doctor that examined the child said that he was satisfied that the child had had a separate existence and that in his opinion it had died from suffocation, noting that it might have been criminal or that it might have been accidental.

However, the Coroner said that he formed the opinion that there was no reasonable likelihood of a serious crime being connected with the child's death, saying, 'It does not seem to be a case of child murder, even though there are signs of suffocation. They might be accounted for by inattention at birth'. He also added that he didn't think that there would be any likelihood of a successful prosecution on any charge in connection with the child's death.

The Coroner returned a verdict that the newly born female child was found inside an empty water hydrant, that the cause of death was suffocation, and that there was no evidence either as to the identity of the child or the cause of suffocation.