Twenty-seven years ago, two young boys on an afternoon stroll along the sunny banks of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal stumbled upon a terrible scene that struck deep into the hearts of the people of Bootle.
The discovery of the body of a badly decomposed baby girl, wrapped in plastic, would become one of Liverpool's enduring mysteries. For nearly three decades the true identity of the baby – who was at first mistaken for a doll floating in the water – has remained unknown.
Following the discovery of the infant at around 3.30pm on Monday, May 27, 1996, Merseyside Police launched a huge operation in the hopes of tracking down her mother. Hospitals and social services were asked to draw up lists of newborn children and women known to have been pregnant in recent months, while detectives scoured the banks of the canal and knocked on doors of houses close to where the body was found.
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But the search was impeded by the fact that the body was believed to have been in the water for about two months before she was found, making it difficult to pinpoint dates and times.
Worse, detectives had no idea whether the baby, whom they named Baby May, was alive when she was wrapped in plastic and dumped in the cold, murky water.
"No evidence of foul play"
A post-mortem found Baby May had lived for a maximum of 45 hours after she was born, with further tests ordered to determine if she died naturally at birth, was suffocated or drowned.
By Friday, May 31, DC John Hogan of Marsh Lane CID told the ECHO that police were not treating the case as a murder – but were still "very anxious" to speak to the mother, who had not come forward.
By June 3, Merseyside Police confirmed there was "no evidence of foul play" in the sad case of Baby May, and her cause of death was recorded as "stillborn".
Sympathetic locals left bunches of flowers, cards and cuddly toys on the banks of the canal in memory of the little girl who never had the chance to grow up. Meanwhile, detectives continued to try to locate Baby May's mother, as it was believed she may have been suffering in a state of despair.
Det Insp Peter Halpin from Merseyside police said: "I feel for her from the bottom of my heart. She must be in turmoil. I can't imagine a mother could abandon her child without feeling some sort of distress."
An ECHO report published on June 13 said: "Police have drawn a blank in the search for tragic Baby May's mum. And it is now feared the child's death will remain a mystery."
Baby May laid to rest
The tragic tale of Baby May tugged at the heartstrings of the public, and when it emerged that she was due to be buried in an anonymous grave with no headstone to commemorate her short life, a group of community heroes stepped up.
Staff from Peep's Fast Food clubbed together to pay for an engraved headstone for Baby May, which still stands in Bootle Cemetery today.
Senior detectives involved in May's case were the only people in attendance at the small funeral on Friday, August 16.
Speaking to the ECHO at the time, Det Insp Halpin said: "We have done everything we can to try to trace the mother and offer our help. I would like to think she may contact me, in order to say her own goodbye to May.
"The mystery of baby May now lies in her hands, and the hands of the public."
A Merseyside police spokesman said there had been no update in the case since a renewed appeal ran in The ECHO in 2020. He said: "The case is examined every two years for any new information but nothing has come to light."
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