Baby

The body of a newly-born child was found on the roof of the sanatorium at Bryanston School.

It was on the roof underneath the nurses' staff sitting-room.

Medical evidence stated that it was not possible to determine the child's sex or whether it had had a separate existence and it was thought that there was some 'pretty strong' evidence that the child's death had occurred since 1947.

The body was found by a decorator on 24 March 1950 when he went to carry out some work on the nurses' staff sitting-room in the school sanatorium. He said that during his work he had occasion to go to a cupboard that was built in at the side of the room under the roof from which there was a small door inside that led out onto the roof. He said that when he opened it he saw some dirty sheets and said that when he took them out a skull dropped out in two pieces and that he then noticed three teeth at the front.

He said that the parcel had consisted of a blanket and sheets that were covered with old blood which were placed out of sight on the roof. He said that when he opened it fully that he found more bones.

The decorator noted that there were other similar cupboards in other bedrooms in the sanatorium.

He also said that the remains appeared to have been wear he found them for years.

When a policeman examined the remains, he said that the bundle consisted of an under blanket and two bed sheets marked, 'Bryanston School sanatorium staff'.

He said that the remains of the baby had been wrapped in the sheets and that the remains of the sheets were decayed in places and badly stained. He said that he found other bones just round the corner of the cupboard near the rafters. He added that there were mice marks and scarps of chewed paper in and around the bundle.

The policeman said that he had been given to understand that sometime prior to 1943 that the cupboard doors had all been sealed to stop draughts.

When the coroner observed at the inquest that there was a similar cupboard in the adjoining bedroom and said that he thought that it seemed strange to think that the body had been taken to the sitting room, the policeman said, 'I think it would be natural for anyone having the child in the bedroom to take it where she did to avoid suspicion, and during the night it would be an easy matter'.

It was further said that it seemed likely that the cupboard door and been unsealed by the person who had put the baby there.

On the bundle near to where the body was found the police found pieces of newspaper which were found to have the date 7 June 1947 on them. However, it was further noted that they could have been conveyed to the room by mice and that they might have no connection with the matter whatsoever. It was added that as the paper was in very small pieces that it was also impossible to say whether they had been put there at the same time as the body.

The police said that they carried out investigations into the missing bedding but said that it was impossible to trace it and that there was no record of any bedding having gone missing. The police said that it would have been an easy matter for one of the staff to have put the sheets and blankets in the cupboards and to have then replaced them without anyone noticing.

The police further said that it was very difficult to interview people that had been on the staff at the school over the years as they were now all over the country.

It was also noted that since 1948 that the school had also been used by other people during the summer vacations.

The pathologist that examined the bones said that none of the bones showed any signs of injury and that they were fully consistent with those of a full-term child at or about the time of birth.

He said that there was no means of telling the child's sex not the cause of its death and nothing to show whether the child had ever lived.

He added that from the condition of the bones and partly from the condition of the blanket and bloodstains that he thought that the child's death had occurred at least 18 months earlier, with three years earlier being the upper limit.

When the coroner summed up, he said, 'I have never been able, during my experience, to find less than I am able to find today'.

An open verdict was returned.