A DAD who found the skeletal remains of a baby hidden beneath floorboards is still haunted by the horror find.
Builder David Dent found the boy wrapped in a 116-year-old newspaper during renovation work at a building in Bishop Auckland, County Durham.
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A builder, David Dent, found a baby’s body while renovating a property in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, on July 29, 2024 Credit: Durham Constabulary
Cops believe the child may have been killed after birth due to twine wrapped around their neck. Credit: Durham Constabulary
The tot, who has not been identified, is estimated to have been a full-term child at 40 weeks old.
David suffered PTSD and flashbacks after the discovery.
He told The Jattvibe he now plans to travel to Bishop Auckland Town Cemetery – where the baby was buried in May – to place a teddy bear at the grave.
It comes after a full inquest into the death was deferred last week to September 17.
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David, 42, told The Jattvibe: “I’m pleased he’s put to rest at last.”
“I’m going to go to the grave in my own time and put down a teddy bear for him,” dad-of-six David, from Newton Aycliffe, continued.
“I’m from Bishop originally, I’ll go next time I see my mam.”
He added: “I’m all just quite happy to try and put it behind me now he’s buried.
The baby was given the name ‘Baby Auckland’ before he was laid to rest Credit: NNP
David said he plans to lay a teddy at the boy’s grave
“What makes me happy, if we weren’t there that Monday he would still be under that floor.
“God bless him.”
An earlier inquest hearing was told carbon dating analysis estimated the most likely period in which he lived and died was between 1726 and 1812.
But at the funeral, Detective Chief Inspector Melvin Sutherland said the data suggested the baby lived and died in 1910, which was then etched on his headstone, reports the BBC.
David was carrying out refurbishment work on an upstairs flat in Fore Bondgate on July 29 2024 when he made the grim discovery.
The skeletal remains of the full-term newborn had been bundled in newspaper dating back to 1910.
Cops believe the child – who’s been named Baby Auckland – may have been killed after birth due to twine wrapped around their neck.
David said he was in shock when he unwrapped the remains after lifting up the floorboards with a colleague.
He said he was reminded of his youngest daughter Bella as he looked at the baby before accidentally dropping it, causing its arm and hand to break off.
The dad Facetimed his wife, who advised him to call the police.
David told The Jattvibe last year: “When I got hold of it, I looked at it and for some reason I pulled the paper off it and I’ve seen a little skull.
“When I saw that I was in a bit of shock. I half placed it, half dropped it on the floor.
David said he is going to visit the grave a lay a teddy bear for Auckland Credit: NNP
Police believe he was born around 1910 Credit: NNP
“I noticed a little arm and a hand that fell off it.”
David said the skull had a full set of teeth, which he didn’t realise newborns had.
He said: “I remember the size of it was about the same size as my daughter when she was born.”
David said he was held at the scene for a couple of hours and later had to give a statement to the police.
He added: “The CID guys said just keep it to yourself. Obviously, I told my wife about it.
“It wasn’t until the next day, the Tuesday, when I was driving my van back home and they said on the radio it was an actual baby that they’d found, and I had to pull over because it caught me off guard.”
While David says his PTSD is now more under control, for months he was struggling.
“I’ve not been too bad these last couple of months,” he explained at the time.
“I think about how anyone could do that to a baby because I’ve got six kids of my own.”
The property dates to the Victorian period and at one stage housed a church-run mother and baby unit, although it is believed that the baby was concealed before that time.
