A baby boy whose skeletal remains were discovered beneath floorboards, wrapped in a newspaper dating back to 1910, had twine wound around his neck three times, an inquest has heard.
The disturbing find was made in July 2024 when contractors carrying out renovation work at a flat above a pizza shop in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, lifted the floorboards.
Durham Police were alerted by the construction company after the tiny skeleton was uncovered. Experts later concluded the child was a full-term baby, estimated to have reached about 40 weeks’ gestation, though investigators have not been able to establish how he died.
Proceedings at Crook Civic Centre heard that the extensive police investigation included DNA analysis, advice from a radiocarbon specialist and examination by a forensic anthropologist.
For the purposes of the hearing, the unidentified infant was referred to as ‘Baby Auckland’.
Earlier evidence suggested radiocarbon testing placed the baby’s life sometime between 1726 and 1812, despite the Bishop Auckland property where the remains were recovered having been constructed during the Victorian period.
A forensic anthropologist confirmed the child was male and had been carried to full term. However, the examination could not determine whether he had been stillborn.
The boy’s remains were found with knotted twine around his neck and partly covered by an edition of The Umpire, a Sunday newspaper dated June 19, 1910, the inquest was told.
Police forensic officers enter the unused Fore Bondgate building in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, where the baby’s skeleton was recovered from under the floorboards in July 2024.
The little boy’s body was discovered in a flat above a pizza shop, where it had remained hidden for more than a century.
Coroner Crispin Oliver, who called the case ‘tragic’, said that all elements of the inquest process were engaged, meaning it was necessary to establish who the deceased was, as well as how, where and when he died.
He said: ‘This is a sad and unusual case.’
He said the inquest intended to establish if the death was unnatural, violent or unknown.
Renovations were being carried out in a second floor room at the building at Fore Bondgate by owner Peter Moody, who made the discovery under a floorboard.
He told police that the skeletal remains had what looked like about a metre of garden twine around the neck.
Records established that the property, used as a cafe at the time, was built in the late 19th century.
Detective Chief Inspector Mel Sutherland, who led the police inquiry, said forensic anthropologist Dr Micol Zuppello worked at the scene and established that the remains were human.
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Dr Zuppello believed the body, since mummified, was placed face-down.
She judged the remains were that of a baby of 38-40 weeks development but it was not possible to say if the baby was stillborn.
Home Office pathologist Dr Louise Mulcahy told the inquest she could not ascertain the cause of death.
There was no sign of trauma on the skeletal remains, but there was no soft tissue left to establish if poisoning was a factor.
She confirmed to the coroner that the twine was looped and knotted directly around the baby’s neck, then wrapped in newspaper, rather than the cord being used to tie the wrapping, like a parcel.
She said: ‘I have recorded it was looped around the neck three times, there was a knot, and a further loop.’
Mr Sutherland explained how the police inquiry looked at finding a knot expert but the cost of that investigation, given there was no prospect of it leading to a prosecution, was too much.
The twine used was generic, so was not an investigative lead, the inquest heard.
DNA testing did not reveal any known living relatives, he said.
The detective said public appeals in the media led to two sisters to come forward believing they could be related to a servant who worked at the property, but a DNA test did not match.
Mr Oliver asked Mr Sutherland if the twine could have been used to hang a religious artefact around the baby’s neck, or if string could have been used in midwifery practices at the time, but the detective said neither was likely.
Mr Sutherland praised Durham County Council for organising a funeral for the baby, supported by a funeral director who gave their services for free and a memorial firm which provided a headstone.
The inquest also heard from Dr Brian Tripney, a radio carbon dating expert from Glasgow University, who used a bone sample to establish that the baby was born in a period between the mid-1600s and 1955.
Mr Oliver said he will give his conclusion later on Thursday.
After the funeral in April, Cathy Hunt, Durham County Council’s cabinet member for children and young people’s services, said: ‘Sadly, for reasons we will never know, this little boy was never given the dignified and appropriate burial he deserved, so it was important that he was laid to rest in a way that honoured a life that could have been.’