Age: 0
Sex: male
Date: 26 Feb 1959
Place: Number 12 Bus, Harlesden, London
The body of a newly-born baby was found in a carrier bag on a number 12 bus in Harlesden.
The pathologist said that the child was a day old and had weighed 6lb 14 oz and that it died from asphyxia due to inhaling mucus.
He said that it was a common thing for a newly-born child to have mucus in the throat, but said that it could easily be removed.
The pathologist said that he agreed with the Coroner that the child's death had probably resulted from a failure to do what was necessary rather than an active injury.
The bus conductress said that she was handed the carrier bag with the child in it on 26 February 1959.
She said that there had been five passengers on the journey at the time, one of them the man that had handed her the bag when he came downstairs to get off the bus at Harlesden. She said, 'He said it had been left. He had been on my bus every night that week'.
The police said that they had travelled on the bus looking for the man but said that he had not been seen since and added that enquiries to trace the child's mother also failed.
However, the bus conductress added that she was sure that none of the men that had been on her bus had brought the carrier-bag on board. She said, 'On the previous journey I picked up a lot of women. A lot of them carried bags. They were people from factories'.
