Mother who hid stillborn baby's body walks free

Amanda Hunt, 23, who was in denial about her pregnancy after a casual relationship, gave birth in her bedroom in Wakefield in the early hours last New Year's Eve, a court heard.

She wept as Wakefield magistrates heard that she later told police the baby was stillborn.

She panicked and wrapped the body in a towel and put it in a box under her bed, the court was told.

Hunt later placed the baby girl's body in a bin liner and put it in a wheelie bin, removing the dead child and placing it in her wardrobe every two weeks, just before bin collections were due.

Hunt's mother eventually made the grim discovery in her daughter's wardrobe after noticing a "terrible" and overpowering smell coming from a bag her daughter had received last Christmas.

Hunt, of Wharncliffe Road, Kettlethorpe, Wakefield, told her mother the smell was from wet boots.

But her mother took the bag outside, opened it and saw a baby's foot.

Hunt, who sat in court with her hands clasped tightly together, wiped away tears as after she admitted a charge of concealment of the birth of a child.

District Judge Marie Mallon handed her a four-month prison sentence, suspended for two years with supervision.

Mrs Mallon told Hunt: "I don't think it would serve any useful purpose to impose a prison sentence with immediate effect."

The court heard police were alerted just before 7pm on April 16 that a baby's body, wrapped in a towel and placed in a cardboard box, had been discovered in Hunt's wardrobe.

Prosecutor Mrs Gomersal said Hunt told police she gave birth just after 2.30am on December 31 last year after becoming pregnant during a casual relationship with a man she knew only as Lee.

Mrs Gomersal said: "She knew she was pregnant but felt unable to tell anyone about it.

"She didn't seek any medical help at any stage of the pregnancy and gave birth in her bedroom.

"She told officers she thought the baby was dead as it was not moving or crying and she placed it in a cardboard box underneath her bed.

"She told officers she moved the dead baby wrapped in a bin liner to an area behind the garden shed and later to a wheeled bin.

"To prevent it being discovered, every fortnight she moved the dead baby back indoors to her bedroom to prevent it being removed by refuse collectors from the wheeled bin."

Hunt's solicitor, Caroline Deacon, said her client was in denial about being pregnant, had panicked and is now remorseful.

Mrs Deacon told the court: "This whole episode has been extremely traumatic, not only for her but her whole family. It was her mother who found the baby. It's caused great upset."

She added: "She will never be in this situation again and will maybe have a family in the future with the support of her parents."

Mrs Deacon said Hunt had given birth in her bedroom but her mother had not heard anything. "She subsequently gave birth in her bedroom on her own. But her mother didn't hear anything at all."

She said medical inquiries revealed that it was possible to give birth in silence. Mrs Deacon said it wasn't a deliberate attempt to conceal the baby from medical authorities.

District Judge Mallon, who read a psychiatric report about Hunt, said it would not serve any useful purpose to send her to jail.

Hunt, who has no previous convictions, was jailed for four months but the sentence was suspended for two years.

She will be supervised by probation officers.

Mrs Mallon said she had seen case law about the more serious offence of infanticide which revealed that none of the 59 people convicted in a 10-year period had gone to prison.