Baby on the beach – renewed appeal

Detectives reviewing the unsolved case of a new-born baby found dead on Weymouth beach 27 years ago are renewing their appeal for information – and asking the girl’s parents to come forward in confidence.

Police are hopeful that advances in DNA forensic analysis will identify the baby girl – together with her mother and father.

Referred to by the media at the time as the ‘Baby on the Beach’ case, the little girl’s body was found near to Weymouth’s pier bandstand by three men as they were metal detecting on 15 October, 1981.

The baby’s body was in a white carrier bag which was in a larger canvas bag found just above the high waterline of the beach. The carrier bag had ‘Bath Street Wine Cellar, Quality Wine Merchant, Jersey CI’ printed on the side.

Despite extensive enquiries, detectives couldn’t establish how the carrier bag came to be on the beach but one theory was that it may have been thrown from the ferry between Weymouth and Jersey in the Channel Islands.
The circumstances surrounding the baby girl’s death have never been determined and now the ‘cold case’ is being re-examined by Dorset Police’s crime review officer Phil James, a former detective superintendent with the force.

Phil James said: “While being sympathetic to the potential circumstances of this case – and appreciating the delicate nature of this inquiry – Dorset Police has a duty to bring this unsolved historic case to a conclusion and is committed to doing so.

“If anyone has information that could help my enquiries, I am very keen to hear from them. All calls will be treated in the strictest confidence and I am interested in any information – no matter how unimportant or irrelevant people may believe it to be.

“I would appeal to the mother or father of the baby to contact me. They may be keen to bring closure to this very sad case and may wish to do this with some dignity, rather than live in fear of receiving that unexpected call.

“Advances in forensic science now provide investigative opportunities to obtain a DNA profile of the baby girl and, potentially, the mother and father.  This detailed examination work has started and will take several months.”

Anyone with information should contact Dorset Police in confidence on 01202 222 222 or the free and anonymous Crimestoppers line on 0800 555 111 where mobile phone tariffs may apply.