Shocking discovery at Rushden Body of baby found at the Sewage Works Police Investigations The gruesome discovery of the body of an apparently normal and recently born baby was made on Monday at the sewage works, Rushden, by a well-known Rushden man and the police are investigating the case. The circumstances are particularly revolting, as it seems that the child must have been carried down to the sewage disposal works, probably from the Kimbolton Road approach and thrown into one of the sludge beds. The Rushden resident who made the discovery naturally received a severe shock when the body came to light. The head was rather above ordinary size and the trunk and limbs rather diminutive in proportion. It would have been impossible for the body to have got past the many bends, traps and other contrivances through which the sewage matter passes before it is rendered innocuous at the far end of the system. By the state of the body it was evident that it had been taken there quite recently, as there were few signs of decomposition. The police investigations should prove of considerable interest, and will, no doubt, be a deterrent on any contemplated repetition of this ghastly form of disposing of a newborn child.

Rushden Echo Friday September 30th 1921, transcribed by Susan Manton Gruesome Find at Rushden - Baby’s Body Discovered in Sludge The Adjourned Inquest - Five other Bodies Found at the Sewage Works An adjourned inquest on the body of the unknown female infant, whose unusual discovery was exclusively reported in the “Rushden Echo” recently was held on Monday at the Police Station, Rushden, before Mr. J. Cairns Parker, Deputy Coroner for the Division. It will be recalled that at the preliminary inquiry on Sept 10th only evidence of the finding of the body was given by Insp. Hobell and of its condition by Dr. Greenfield. Inspector Hobell said: I have made exhaustive inquiries in the town and neighbourhood since the finding of the body and I can gather no information whatsoever as to the identity of the deceased. Joseph Hornsby 62, Roberts Street – small holder said:- On September 5th I purchased a load of sludge from the Rushden Urban District Council sewage works and it was carted on to my allotment on the Newton Road the same day. I helped with a drag to unload the manure, being present when it arrived. I noticed nothing whatever unusual then. Next day I went to spread it. On doing so I found a lump towards the middle of the load at the bottom of the heap. On close inspection I found it was an infant child, and concluded it was a female. It was very black and putrefied. I buried it on my allotment. On Sept 9th I was interviewed by Insp. Hobell. I took him to the place where it was buried and saw him dig it up. The body was 14 inches in length. It was very much more decomposed than when I had buried it. I should assume from the condition in which I found the body that it came along in the manure, but it is quite possible it might have been put in and covered up, although I don’t think that was so. The Coroner: Did you notice whether the heap had been moved the next day you went up to your allotment? Mr. Hornsby: So far as I could see it had not been disturbed since it had been pulled out of the cart. The Coroner: Why did you not communicate with the Police at once? Mr. Hornsby: In the first instance I felt that the body would be best out of the way in case the dogs should get it. Then later on, I realised that the Police ought to know in order to prevent a recurrence of such a horrible way of disposing of a body. The Coroner: But if you had given the information sooner it would have given the doctor a better chance in his examination of the body. Edwin Robinson, 295 Wellingborough Road, manager of the Rushden Sewage Disposal Works said: I know that Mr. Hornsby purchased a load of sludge on Sept 5th. The load came in the first place from the detrious tank or screening chamber which contains sludge, dust and matter which cannot pass the screens. This matter gravitates on to sludge drying beds twice a week, Tuesdays and Fridays. The screens are 1½ inch and ½ inch mesh respectively. It would be quite possible for an object to get into the tank and gravitate to the sludge beds. The tank was emptied on the previous Friday and all the matter disposed of. The sludge which Mr. Hornsby disposed of came from the town after the Friday previous. The manure would be loaded by hand with a fork. Insp. Hobell: Even a rat or cat could be detected on loading. Witness: That is so. If the body of the baby had been on the beds I could not fail to have noticed it. I have frequently seen rats and cats. I contend that the body of the child could not have been in the works without my knowing it. I have reported five other cases to the police of bodies of infants found in the works. I fail to see how the manure could be loaded without the body being discovered, owing to the matter being only about 2½ to 3 inches thick in the sludge beds. There’s twice as much water as sludge. The Coroner said it certainly looked impossible for the load to have been put on the cart without the body being seen if it was in the sludge on the Sewage Disposal Works. The Coroner returned a verdict that the child was found on an allotment field occupied by Mr. Hornsby, but there was not sufficient evidence to show how it came there. He added that Mr. Hornsby ought to have reported the matter to the police at once instead of taking the law into his own hands and burying the body.