Newborn's skeletal remains were found wrapped in newspaper under floorboards

The grim discovery was made by a man doing refurbishments at the property (Picture: PA)

Mystery surrounds the discovery of a newborn baby whose skeletal remains were found wrapped in century-old newspaper underneath some floorboards.

The remains were discovered during refurbishment work at a property in Fore Bondgate,Bishop Auckland,in July 2024,when a contractor lifted the boards and came across what first appeared to be a bundle of old paper.

What he found instead was the skeleton of an infant,now referred to in official documents as Baby Auckland.

Contractor David Dent,who was carrying out the works on an upstairs flat in July 2024,is still in shock following his discovery.

The baby is believed to have been full term (Picture: PA)

Sign up for all of the latest stories

Start your day informed with Metro's News Updates newsletter or get Breaking News alerts the moment it happens.At first he thought it was a dead pigeon. But then he realised he was looking at the remains of a baby.He now knows that it was a boy who had reached full term of about 40 weeks’ development.Tests have been unable to determine whether he was stillborn,but brown twine had been looped three times around his neck.A fragment of newspaper wrapped around the remains was identified as The Umpire,dated June 19,1910.Carbon dating suggests Baby Auckland may have lived at some point between 1726 and 1812 – before the Victorian house where he was found was built.DNA testing has confirmed the remains are those of a male infant,but has been unable to identify him or connect him to any known family.At an inquest opening in Crook,senior coroner Jeremy Chipperfield,was told that a funeral director had arranged a burial for the boy on April 27.Investigators have been working to find the baby’s cause of death (Picture: PA)David,from Newton Aycliffe,previously told The Sun: ‘All I could see was a ribcage… We picked it up,and the first thing my mate said was “Urgh,what’s that there?” I thought it must be a big pigeon. ‘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 said he was shocked by the size of the newborn,which was the same size as his own daughter Bella,and Facetimed his wife for advice.She spotted the lengths of twine around the baby’s neck and told him to call the police.Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at .