A baby boy whose skeletal remains were found wrapped in a 1910 newspaper and with twine around his neck has, finally, been laid to rest.
The child has become known as Baby Auckland after he was found at a property in the centre of Bishop Auckland, County Durham.
He was discovered under floorboards by a builder working on a Victorian house in July 2024. More than a century after his death, the mystery child was buried at a gentle and moving service at Bishop Auckland town cemetery.
Despite a detailed investigation, police have been unable to identify the baby or establish how he died, a fact that was clearly of some sadness to DCI Mel Sutherland who led the investigation and gave a tribute at the service.
“It is an emotional day,” he said. “It has been quite a long process. It was a really lovely service.”
He recalled the early stages of the case, how it took two or three days to even get the baby out of the house. “We used a forensic anthropologist to kind of excavate under the floorboards to make sure that we got as much of baby as possible to be fully intact. And we did. I think the only part we didn’t was a tiny little toe bone.”
The baby was then taken to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle where a postmortem examination was carried out.
It is thought the skeleton was that of a full-term baby of about 40 weeks development, but a cause of death could not be established.
There were media appeals about the case and people did come forward saying they may have been linked to the baby.
“We took some DNA from people and we compared it to the baby and unfortunately it didn’t match,” Sutherland said. “So that was a bit of a disheartening moment.”
All lines of inquiry have now been exhausted, Sutherland said.
At the opening of the inquest it was suggested the baby may have been alive between 1726 and 1812, which only added mystery to mystery.
Sutherland, speaking as a police detective, said given the age of the property and given the baby was wrapped in a 10 June 1910 edition of The Umpire, then a popular Sunday newspaper, he was inclined to believe the baby was alive in 1910, not earlier.
He said it had been “a deeply thought-provoking” case. “Coming together today has allowed us to properly acknowledge this little boy’s life and ensure he was laid to rest with the dignity and respect he deserved. We hope he may now rest in peace.”
The burial was overseen by Gemma Dobson, a celebrant, who said the child was now known as Baby Auckland.
“In giving this child a name, we recognise their place among us,” she said. “A name given with thought, a name that holds a community, and a promise that a child will be remembered.
“It is often said that every life, no matter how brief, leaves its mark upon the world and today we are here because that is true.”
Janet Atkinson, a retired social worker from High Etherley, was there for no reason beyond being a local resident.
“I’ve been following the news since I heard about the baby and I just felt so sorry for him.
“I wanted to attend the funeral today to show my respects and to show him some love, love that he never had in his very short life. I want him to know that he’ll always be loved and remembered.”
An inquest into the circumstances of the baby’s death is scheduled to continue on 18 May.