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Baby April

Age: 0

Sex: female

Date: 3 Apr 1995

Place: Singleton Lake, Ashford

The body of a newly-born female child was found in a bag in Singleton Lake.

It was thought that the child had been strangled with a pair of tights. The baby had paper stuffed in its mouth and had then been wrapped in a Kleenex toilet tissue bag and then a Motaworld carrier bag before being dumped in the lake.

The post-mortem stated that she had died from asphyxiation.

She weighed 7lbs and it was thought that she had been born between 26 March 1995 and 3 April 1995.

It was found by a teenage couple that were passing the lake on 3 April 1995.

The police nicknamed the child Baby April.

The police launched a murder enquiry which was called Operation Duke which involved checking on 3,858 people to find the mother. They interviewed hundreds of teenage girls around Ashford and Tenterden and doctors and midwives were called in to account for all expectant mothers.

The baby was buried in the Bybrook Cemetery in Kennington, Ashford but was later exhumed in 2011, 16-years later, so that the police could collect DNA evidence.

In August 2011 an appeal was launched to trace a couple that had gone to see the grave. Their descriptions and details of their car were published, but when they were traced, the police were able to rule them out of their enquiry.

Her grave in Bybrook Cemetery is said to be tended by strangers, but in February 2015 it was reported that toys left with the grave were being stolen. A note was left for the thieves with the remaining toys that read, 'To the person who stole Baby April’s toys. You are sick and cruel. Leave Baby April alone. Do you not realise she is watched over? You will be caught soon I hope. Stupid.'.


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