Home Office aids 'Attic Baby' case

As yet, investigators do not know if the tiny skeleton is that of a boy or girl, a senior detective told The Coleraine Times yesterday.

The baby was found in a building undergoing renovation at 29 The Promenade on December 18, wrapped in an edition of The Evening Standard newspaper, dated June 1935.

A postmortem examination of the infant, which was dislodged from under floorboards in an attic in flats above the Heathron Diner, proved inconclusive.

Detective Inspector Sean Fitzpatrick told The Coleraine Times: "As yet we do not know the sex of the baby and are awaiting news on this from the coroner.

"However we will be contacting the Home Office for permission for old fingerprinting records from the 1930s to be released to us.

"There will be fingerprints on the newspaper which could help us. It is a long shot, but it is worth pursuing."

Det Inspector Fitzpatrick said that interviews had been carried out with a number of people about who lived in the house around that time. To page 6

"The time span with this case is over 70 years. It's a long, long time ago and that is unfortunate.

"We can be establish that the people involved here are probably deceased and that no criminal case would take place.

"A case such as this will very much be a slow burn and take some time."

Police are hoping to build up a more exact picture of what happened to the baby to allow a funeral to take place sometime in the future.

In similar cases, forensic anthropology - detailed knowledge of osteology (skeletal anatomy and biology) - is used to aid the identification and cause of death of skeletal remains.

Detectives are interested in hearing from any member of the public who knows who the family who lived in the house in 1935.

At the time of the find, SDLP Assembly member John Dallat, said the local community was shocked by the discovery.

"We don't know what tragedy lies behind this, but the fact that it possibly dates back more than 60 years does not diminish the sadness of this," he said.