Baby

The body of a newly-born child was found dead in a back garden on 21 April 1954.

The same day a woman domestic servant left the neighbourhood for Southern Ireland.

The inquest on the child's body returned the verdict that it had died through lack of attention at birth. The pathologist that carried out the post mortem stated that there were no signs of violence.

The baby was found neatly wrapped up in newspaper by a man who lived in St Augustine’s Road, Edgbaston, at the bottom of his garden. He said that he had seen the newspaper parcel the day before but had taken no notice of it. He said that the parcel could have been put there or dropped over the wall of another garden.

A police detective said that the newspaper that the child had been wrapped up in was dated 25 March 1954.

The police said that following extensive enquiries they determined that a woman domestic help that had been working in a house in the area had left for Southern Ireland on the day the child was found and it was determined that from where she was living that she would have had access to the garden where the child's body was found.

The police said at the inquest that they were interested in interviewing the woman. The Coroner said 'The Southern Ireland police have traced her, and I think it fair to say that she has denied all along that this was her child. I should very much like to have had her in the witness-box, but I have no power to bring a witness from Southern Ireland'.

When the Coroner returned the verdict that the unknown baby died through lack of attention at birth, he said, 'That will leave the door open for the police if they wish to take further action'.