Baby

The body of a newly-born female child was found in the River Parrett at Dunwear.

The body was found by a man that lived in Bisgood Buildings at Somerset Bridge floating in the river towards Burrowbridge from Bridgwater. He said that when he saw it floating in the water he shouted to two boys standing nearby to collect it and that when he saw that it was the body of a child, he called the police.

A 9-year-old boy said that when he saw the object in the water, he thought it was a doll, but that when he pulled it on to the bank he found out that it was a baby.

The pathologist that examined the child's body said that it was that of a full-term child and that it had been in the water for at least ten days. He said that the child's cause of death was asphyxia, probably due to drowning and said that the child had had a separate existence for at least an hour but was not more than 24-hours-old when it died.

An open verdict was returned.