Renewed appeal in baby murder probe 30 years on

Cold case detectives have renewed their appeal for help in solving the murder of a baby girl who was found in a plastic bag in Kent 30 years ago.

The body of a baby, dubbed "Baby April" by police, was found near Singleton Lake in Ashford on 3 April 1995, sparking a decades-long murder investigation.

Police have now renewed their appeal to find Baby April's mother, assisted by developments in DNA profiling and forensic science.

Previous attempts to re-examine the case in 2011 using fresh DNA technologies were unsuccessful.

Det Insp Lee Neiles said: "This is a horrific case of a new-born baby girl being killed and discarded in a lake.

"April would be 30 years old now, and who knows what she would be contributing to society, but someone ended her life in the most unimaginable way and prevented that young baby growing up to be a girl and a woman.

"We urge the mother of April to come forward now, rather than we come to you."

April, whose body weighed 7lb (3kg), is believed to have died through asphyxiation with investigations finding signs that she had been prevented from breathing, police said.

Her date of birth was estimated to be between 25 March and 3 April 1995, the week before she was found dead.

An initial murder investigation was unable to identify her parents or relatives and her body was exhumed in 2011 to gather more DNA evidence, and later reburied.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Kent Police.

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