Baby

The body of a newly-born child was found in a well in a field at Westwood Farm in Leigh.

The body was discovered by a farm bailiff as he was walking through the field after having been out to inspect some fields of wheat. He said that as he was walking homewards through Westwood Farm he heard water dripping into a well in the middle of the field, and said that as there was not normally much water in the well that he thought that he would see how high the water there had reached after the recent heavy rains.

He said that the well was surrounded by barbed wire to keep cattle away and that there was old boarding in a bad condition over it.

He said that when he removed the boarding and looked in he was amazed to see a body in the water, which he said was about 14 feet from the top of the well.

He said that he was not sure at first whether it was the body of a child saying that it was white and that he thought that it might also have been a rabbit with the fur rotted away.

He said that he went to call a farm colleague and that when they returned the dripping water had moved the body such that it could then clearly be seen that it was that of a baby.

The police then removed the body and determined it to be that of a female child.

The police said that from a preliminary examination that it appeared the body had not been int the water, which was at that time four feet deep, for long. The well was about 500 yards from the nearest road.