Overview
- The inquest, which opened Tuesday in Crook, confirmed the remains are a full‑term male and recorded the cause of death as unascertained, and DNA has not identified him.
- Contractors renovating a flat on Fore Bondgate in Bishop Auckland found the skeleton under floorboards on July 29, 2024, with thin twine looped three times around the neck.
- The body was wrapped in a copy of The Umpire dated June 19, 1910, a detail that hints at when the concealment occurred but not when the child died.
- Radiocarbon testing gave conflicting results, with one test showing the infant lived before 1945 and another suggesting a possible range between 1726 and 1812, using the absence of bomb‑era carbon‑14 as a pre‑1945 marker.
- Senior Coroner Jeremy Chipperfield released the remains for an April 27 burial at Bishop Auckland Town Cemetery, with the inquest to resume on May 18.