Today marks exactly 30 years since a teenage couple stumbled across the body of a baby girl in a lake.

The unidentified child, named Baby April by police, had been strangled with a pair of tights and wrapped in plastic before being thrown into the water in Singleton Lake, Ashford.

A murder inquiry was launched and - despite an extensive investigation by police checking on a total of 3,858 people at the time - the parents were never identified.

Officers said the 7Ib infant was not born with a medical professional on hand and the umbilical cord was roughly cut.

She was strangled, had tissue paper stuffed in her mouth and enclosed in a ‘Motaworld’ carrier bag.

A post-mortem revealed the tot was born between March 25 and April 3, 1995, making her just days old before dying of asphyxiation.

Baby April was laid to rest at Kennington’s Bybrook Cemetery in February 1996, 10 months after the grisly discovery was made.

Sixteen years later, her body was exhumed and reburied in 2011 to gather more DNA samples, but it did not lead to any major development in the investigation.

Now, however, police are making a renewed appeal for information from the public as the killer continues to walk free.

DI Lee Neiles, of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, is leading the cold case team and believes scientific advancements since the case’s last review could lead to a major breakthrough.

He says one of these includes the use of DNA17 - a profiling technique which is more discriminating than the previous method known as SGM+, which looked at 10 areas of DNA compared to 17 today.

The 45-year-old said: “This is a horrific case of a newborn 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.

"I have no doubt someone out there has information in relation to this case, and now that three decades have passed, it has to be the time to do the right thing and come forward so that we can get justice for April.

"Advances in forensic science, particularly familial DNA, now give us an even better chance of establishing who her parents are.

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

Three decades on, neighbours in Singleton continue to feel the devastating impact the murder created throughout the suburb.

“I remember a baby being found in the lake and never finding out who she was," said Pearl Yates, 77, a mum-of-two and Manorfield resident.

“It was, and still is, very sad and just troubling to think about such a dear little thing.

“Walking by the lake is so lovely when it’s good weather, so it’s hard to imagine that is where it sort of went on.

“I’ve been at Singleton 27 years and never remember anything as bad as that happening here.”

Peter Appleton is another who remains stunned by the incident.

The then 40-year-old window-seller had just arrived home from work when he saw the land surrounding his Lakeside home engulfed with emergency services.

“I came home and saw police vehicles everywhere. There were probably 10 or 15 officers but I assumed someone had drowned," he said.

With his property being one of the four detached houses closest to, and overlooking, the lake, the dad-of-three says he was immediately greeted at his home by detectives.

“Two officers knocked on my door asking me if I had seen anything involving a baby," the now-Bradbridge Green resident added.

“So until then I wasn’t aware of anything until I heard about it.

“Now I just think about what life that girl could have had now and what they would have become. To do that to a child is just wicked.”

Mum-of-three Sally Gathern, now a Labour councillor on Ashford Borough Council, says it was not just neighbours in Singleton who felt the devastating impact of Baby April’s passing.

She says what happened “rippled” across Ashford from Singleton’s tight-knit community.

“Many people who moved here were younger people with families as they were the type of houses being built, so news of what happened travelled quickly,” the Singleton West representative said.

“Friends of mine who didn’t live in Singleton were shocked and upset by it at the time as it rippled across Ashford.

“It never goes away and it’s never been solved and a lot of people remember that. It was just such a tragedy all round.

“I had a baby in 1996 soon after it happened and remember it well living in Red Tree Orchard, so it really hit home.

“But for something so horrific to happen at the lake was such a shock and made something already horrific even more so.”

Meanwhile, mum-of-two Jean Leahy, 76, who had moved from Kennington’s Sherwood Close to just off Tithe Barn Lane at about the time April was discovered, says she “still can’t believe what happened”.

“When you’re a parent it really hits home and brings back awful memories,” she said.

“I used to walk there every day, but unless I’m with someone now I won’t go alone.”

The renewed police appeal comes just weeks after a woman admitted to the manslaughter of a baby boy whose body was discarded in bin bags in Warrington, near Manchester, 27 years ago.

Joanne Sharkey, of Denham Close, Liverpool, pleaded guilty to causing the death of ‘Baby Callum’ - named after the Callands district of Warrington - after his body was discovered in 1998.

The 55-year-old admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and endeavouring to conceal the birth of a child at Liverpool Crown Court on March 6.

This week, she was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, and told she must undergo mental health treatment.

DI Neiles says the similar nature of the case to that of Baby April’s contributed to the renewed Singleton appeal.

Officers are appealing to anyone who may have knowledge about the Baby April case to come forward.

Those with any knowledge are urged to submit information here.

People can also call police on 01622 652006, contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 or complete their online form.