Age: 0
Sex: male
Date: 30 Mar 1917
Place: St Peters Vicarage, Back Firs Lane, Leigh
The body of a newly-born female child was found in a dirt heap behind St Peters Vicarage in Back Firs Lane, Leigh.
It was found by a 23-year-old woman on the Thursday afternoon, 29 March 1917 at about 2.10pm. She said she saw the parcel lying on the dirt heap a few days before, but had thought that it had been a dead dog. However, on the Thursday afternoon she said she saw two boys playing with it and saw a hand protruding from it, after which she immediately gave information to the police.
A police sergeant said that the body was in a coarse brown material like sacking.
The doctor that carried out the post mortem said that he found that the child had had its skull fractured before death, and that there were also burns about the body.
He added that the child appeared to have been dead for about five days.
A verdict of Wilful Murder against some person or persons unknown was returned.
