Baby

The body of a baby was found shortly after 9am on Tuesday morning by a garden boy in a paddock of the grounds of Lewes House.

It was wrapped in paper and had a stay-lace tied around its neck with a reef knot directly under it's chin.

It was thought that someone had thrown the package over the wall from Church Lane. The parcel was found about 3 feet from the high wall that divided the paddock from Church Lane. The wall was 7ft high on the paddock side and 8ft 6in on the Church Lane side.

The garden boy touched the parcel, which was wet and torn, with his foot and noticed that it contained the body of a dead child. He then went and informed the Head Gardener.

The inquest heard that the parcel might have been there for several days without anyone noticing as the nearest path was about 50 yards away.

The baby was wrapped in newspaper, and then a piece of white tissue paper and then an outer covering of brown paper. The piece of string that it was tied up in had partially slipped off with the rain and the child's face was exposed.

The autopsy stated that the child had had a separate existence and had been strangled. The baby was unwashed and from the condition of the lungs the doctor thought that the child had been killed shortly after its birth.

The doctor also said that it was possible for the mother to have tied the knot after having given birth but very improbable and also said that it would have been possible for her to have thrown the child over the wall but again very improbable.