A dad-of-six who discovered the skeletal remains of a tiny baby underneath floorboards has revealed the toll the horror find has taken on his mental health.
David Dent, a builder from Bishop Auckland, County Durham, was renovating a building in the town in 2024 when he discovered a bundle wrapped in a more than century-old newspaper and twine, with which the tot may have been killed. The package contained remains experts later concluded were more than 100 years old and belonged to a full-term newborn.
David, 42, has tackled Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after making the grim discovery, and has revealed how the tiny baby’s frail body fell apart in his hands.
View 5 ImagesInvestigators concluded that the baby was likely born and died in 1910(Image: PA)
Speaking to The Sun, David said he picked up the bundle and started peeling off the 1910 newspaper in which it was wrapped after he and a colleague recovered it from under the floordboards during a renovation in Fore Bondgate. Recalling the moment he uncovered “a little skull”, he said: “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. I noticed a little arm and a hand that fell off it.” David told the publication he then called his wife, who advised him to tell police.
View 5 ImagesThe baby was found wrapped in twine and a newspaper(Image: Durham Constabulary)
He then handed the remains over to local criminal investigators, who told him to “just keep it to yourself”, before he heard on the radio that the remains were confirmed to have veonged to a baby.
He added: “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.”
View 5 ImagesDavid Dent said he was happy to hear the child had been laid to rest(Image: Tom Banks/PA Wire)
He said he was left struggling with PTSD for months after the discovery, which has been steadily improving recently, adding: “I’ve not been too bad these last couple of months.”
The dad added that he now plans to visit the grave of the late child, who has been named “Baby Auckland” and buried in Bishop Auckland Town Cemetery. An early inquest hearing was told the child had likely lived and died sometime between 1726 and 1812, but Detective Chief Inspector Melvin Sutherland suggested the baby had lived and died in 1910.
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View 5 ImagesThe child was named Baby Auckland and laid to rest in the town(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)
That date was inscribed on the late tot’s headstone. David said: “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.” An inquest into the baby’s death was postponed, and is now due to take place on September 17.