Questions surrounding the death of a baby girl found at a waste recycling plant during the first national lockdown remain unanswered following an inquest. The unidentified infant was born alive but a pathologist was unable to determine the cause of death, the inquest heard.
The baby girl, known only as Baby S, was found on a conveyor belt on a waste processing line in a yard at Sackers in Needham Market, Suffolk, after a delivery of waste from commercial bins on May 14 in 2020. The inquest heard that her injuries could have been caused by a traumatic birth, shaking or smothering, but could not determine which.
Suffolk’s senior coroner Nigel Parsley, recording an open conclusion, said: “We simply cannot say exactly how Baby S came by her death and how she received the injuries which led to her death.”
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He said an initial post-mortem examination could not determine a cause of death, so the baby’s brain and spinal column were sent to a consultant neuropathologist. Her cause of death was then recorded as due to a traumatic brain injury, with the cause of this unascertained.
Mr Parsley told Tuesday’s hearing in Ipswich that the post-mortem examination recorded features “compatible with a live birth” such as “well-inflated lungs, indicating active breathing”. She was recorded to be dark-skinned, possibly of African descent, and to have been born full-term with no evidence of underlying disease.
Detective Chief Inspector Karl Nightingale, the senior investigating officer, agreed with Mr Parsley that Baby S was “definitely born alive” and was no more than 24 hours old. Baby S had “numerous severe injuries”, a pathologist’s report said, with the “majority” occurring after death including fractures to the skull, pelvis and ribs which “could be explained by damage through the processing plant”.
Mr Nightingale said pathologists were “significantly hindered by the waste processing she went through” but they identified injuries which “happened prior to her death”. The report noted haemorrhaging to the layer covering the skull and bruises to the front of the face and over the mouth.
“She could have been placed into the bin while alive but her death isn’t attributed to her going through the waste processing,” Mr Nightingale said. He said pathologist Dr Virginia Fitzpatrick-Swallow identified a number of possible mechanisms which could have caused the injuries to Baby S, including a traumatic birth, smothering or shaking. “She isn’t able to define which of these mechanisms caused her death and she’s not able to prioritise those into a hierarchical list to say which is most likely,” Mr Nightingale said.
He said Baby S is thought to have been inside one of two waste collection vehicles which collected waste from 52 locations. Officers visited 800 addresses and gathered 11,000 hours of CCTV footage but were not able to establish how Baby S came to be inside a bin. Mr Nightingale said police “have to keep an open mind” about the case.
Mr Parsley said: “All we can say with any certainty is the information in relation to how Baby S was found but really we’re no closer to identifying how she got into the waste system in the first place.” He described the case as “tragic” and praised Sackers for helping in the course of the investigation.
The coroner noted the firm had been “fundamentally involved in funeral arrangements” for the infant.
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