UK UK- Tayport beach, Fife, Scotland, ‘The Unknown Bairn’, Boy, 2-4 yrs, pajama top & shirt, 23 May 1971

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Dec 27 2022

Shock twist in 50-year-old case where baby washed up on UK beach in mystery

THE identity of a toddler who was found washed up dead on a UK beach may finally have been uncovered 50 years after the tragic mystery began. The young boy, aged between two and four, was found by …

www.thesun.co.uk

''THE identity of a toddler who was found washed up dead on a UK beach may finally have been uncovered 50 years after the tragic mystery began.

The young boy, aged between two and four, was found by a man out for a walk with his son on Tayport beach in Fife, Scotland in 1971.''

''The lad’s body had begun to decompose and was wearing just a pyjama top with a shirt over it.

No one ever reported him missing - and his identity was never discovered despite leads as far as the Netherlands.

Locals nicknamed him ‘The Unknown Bairn’ - a Scottish word for child - and buried him in Tayport cemetery after locals came together to buy a gravestone for him.

Now the host of a BBC podcast, The Cruelty - A Child Unclaimed, believes he may have uncovered the boy’s identity 50 years after the tragedy.''

''Mr Beverage said that he and his colleagues always believed the child was a member of the travelling community.''

 

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Bob Beveridge said he had clues to the identity of the boy but no-one had ever followed up his claim

Unravelling the mystery of the unknown bairn

How a podcast may have solved the mystery of a dead child washed up on a Fife beach in 1971.

www.bbc.com

By Kate Bissell
''Our investigation was sparked by a retired police officer, who had worked for Fife CID, who said he had clues to the identity of the boy but no-one had ever followed up his claim.
Bob Beveridge had been one of the detectives who worked on the case before he retired from the Scottish Crime Squad to became an antiques dealer in Falkland, about 20 miles from Tayport.
He had always felt the circumstances of the case suggested a link to the Traveller community.''

He told us of one interview the police had carried out which seemed to confirm this.
Mr Beveridge said they had interviewed a man and woman who had been described by police working on the case as "tinkers" due to their speech and dress.
They had been overheard on a bus. The woman had been crying bitterly, moaning "oh my bairn, my bairn", and she was quickly interrupted by her husband and was told to "shut up, you'll get us both to jail".


''Mr Beveridge said the pair had explained their upset to police by saying their son had been taken into care.
This highlighted a scenario we were already considering in relation to the unknown bairn. Perhaps the boy had died in care and it was covered up. Maybe his family did not know he had died?
The presenter of our podcast, Davie Donaldson, comes from the Traveller community and told us the care angle chimed with something he knew about the way his community had been treated at that time.''

''Between the 1950s and 1970s, many Traveller children were placed in care by a combination of authorities including officers from the local authority, charity inspectors, and the police.''

''Many of the children had come from loving and caring homes but life on the road was not deemed suitable by the authorities.
Many described suffering physical, emotional and sexual abuse in the children's homes, foster homes, and residential schools - and the extent of abuse of children in care is currently subject to a public inquiry''

''Mr Beveridge, the retired detective, told us the male Traveller on the bus would later go on to play the bagpipes outside Falkland Palace, just across the square from his antiques shop.
He also mentioned that the man may have had a son who later lived in a caravan in the village of Gateside, about five miles from Falkland.''

 

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The Unknown Bairn: Heart-wrenching Tayport Beach discovery remembered

On May 23 1971 a heart-breaking discovery was made on Tayport Beach - a young child was dead and identification would turn out to be impossible. Now, more

www.thecourier.co.uk

By Amy Hall May 22 2021
''Today forensic evidence – DNA – would be possible, but at that time it fell short of evidence and the parents will be long gone now.”
Former detective Bob Beveridge''

''Initially it was suggested he had died from drowning in the Tay and it was reported he had been in the water for two to four months before he washed up on the shore.

He was just 2ft 9in and was wearing a blue short-sleeved shirt with a small pocket on the lower left side and tabbed with “Achilles size 3”.

He was also wearing a cotton long-sleeved shirt that was fleece-lined and featured rectangular and oval shapes in blue.

These facts would be the only solid information that would ever be known, or publicly released, about the child.''


''A possible clue was found when reports came out of the discovery of two dolls which were caught in the nets of an Aberdeen trawler just 60 miles from the site in Tayport in early May 1971.

Aberdeen police did not know of the dolls until some time later but immediately contacted Fife police when made aware of the discovery.

A spokesman for Fife CID at the time said: “The fact that there is any connection is purely speculation but our file on this case will never be closed.”