Baby

The body of a newly-born female child was found by a 9-year-old boy in the Dell at Hyde Park in London on 20 December 1957 at about 2.15pm.

The boy had lived in Lillington Street in Pimlico and had been out looking for rabbits at the time near East Bridge when he found the child's body lying in some bushes.

He said that he had gone to feed the rabbits when he had found the body in a carrier bag. He said that when he picked it up a leg fell out and he went off to get the police.

When the police arrived and examined the package they said that the body was wrapped up in a piece of towelling that had been taken out of the carrier bag and placed on the road.

A police detective said that it was possible that the parcel had been thrown over the bridge into the bushes, noting that it was a convenient place to have hidden it.

The pathologist that examined the child said that it was a full-term child and had weighed 6lb 8oz and that there were no marks of injury and nothing to arouse suspicion. He stated that death was due to inhalation of birth fluids.

The Coroner returned an open verdict.