Amelia Dyer is believed to have murdered hundreds of babies during the 19th Century. Her crimes led to one of the most sensational trials of the period and shone a spotlight on the Victorian practice of "baby farming". How did a seemingly respectable woman stoop to such cruelty?
On 30 March 1896, a parcel weighted down with a brick was fished out of the River Thames in Reading.
Inside, swaddled in layers of linen, newspaper and brown paper, was the partially decomposed body of baby Helena Fry. White tape had been wound around her neck, with a knot under the left ear.
It was a gruesome discovery, but one which would lead detectives to unravel the crimes of one of the 19th Century's most notorious child killers.
Born in 1837 to a shoemaker in a small village in Bristol, Dyer had endured a tough childhood in which she was the main carer for her mentally ill mother.
As an adult, she became a nurse. But, rather than use her skills to care for people, she embarked on a career doing the exact opposite.
"Baby farming" was a practice common in Victorian England, fuelled by desperate single mothers whose perceived immorality meant they were barred from the workhouse.
Their options were limited, namely to prostitute oneself, starve or, instead, quietly "get rid" of their baby. Baby farmers would offer to take the children off their hands and offer it an alternative future - albeit, not necessarily a happy one.
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