Baby found dead in Suffolk recycling plant was 'born alive'

The baby's body was found at the recycling centre on 14 May 2020

A newborn girl found dead at a recycling centre during the first Covid lockdown was born alive and may have been smothered, an inquest heard.

The unidentified infant - called "Baby S" - was found on a conveyor belt at Sackers in Needham Market, Suffolk in May 2020.

An inquest heard the cause of death was traumatic brain injury.

Recording an open conclusion, coroner Nigel Parsley said: "We cannot say exactly how Baby S came by her death."

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He said further tests had to be carried out after an initial post-mortem examination failed to establish how she died.

Tests recorded features "compatible with a live birth" such as "well-inflated lungs, indicating active breathing".

The cause of the injuries was "unascertained", the inquest in Ipswich heard.

Police officers told the court their inquiry remained open but their progress was affected by the many "severe injuries" the baby suffered after her death, due to the processing of waste.

However, a report by pathologist Dr Virginia Fitzpatrick-Swallow, noted how bleeding and bruising on the child's face could have been caused by traumatic birth, smothering or shaking.

She said she could not say definitively which was the cause of death.

The body of the newborn girl was found by staff at the Sackers centre in Needham Market

The court heard Baby S was less than 24 hours old and was recorded as being dark-skinned, possibly of African descent, and was born full-term with no evidence of underlying disease.

Det Ch Insp Karl Nightingale told the inquest that the pathologist's evidence could not say if Baby S was alive when she was put into the bin, but her death was not a result of the waste process.

Police were keeping "an open mind" about the case, he said.

The little girl suffered a traumatic brain injury before she was found in May 2020

A funeral was held for the unidentified baby girl in February this year at Tuddenham Road in Ipswich

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 staff at Sackers for helping with the investigation.

Police believed the child was taken to the recycling centre in one of two vehicles that had collected waste from 52 business locations, mainly in and around Ipswich, on the day her body was found.

During the inquiry, officers reviewed more than 11,000 hours of CCTV footage and visited more than 800 addresses.

Forensic analysis did not provide further answers about her parents, the force said.