Fox digs up baby's body buried alive by mother

London, Dec 7: A mentally ill woman living in a graveyard in Britain has admitted burying her newborn baby alive after the corpse was discovered when a fox dug it up, media reported.

The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales heard Latvian Elita Amantova, 39, was living off berries and bread left out for birds in Tooting, south-west London, before she gave birth to the child in 2012, the Daily Mail reported.

The tragic death was discovered after a fox dug up the dumped body parts in a nearby tractor yard.

Amantova admitted infanticide and was sentenced to a hospital.

The court heard she had been diagnosed with a schizophrenia-type mental condition in Latvia in her 30s and it was exacerbated after childbirth.

Outlining the facts of the case, prosecutor Zoe Johnson told how the defendant had an "appalling experience" after she came to Britain in 2008.

After losing her job, she found herself in the company of organised criminals in Norfolk, who set her to work as a prostitute.

In August 2012, she fled to London where she was found sleeping rough in a burial ground off Garratt Lane in Tooting, the report stated.

The court heard that by then she was heavily pregnant, living off berries and bread left out for birds.

Verity Verster, member of the public, became concerned about her condition and alerted authorities, Johnson said.

As a result, a police constable tried to persuade her to go into suitable accommodation but she refused help.

Johnson said the body parts were found Sep 10, 2012 on the ground at the tractor yard in Tooting Common.

DNA testing identified the mother as Amantova.

On Sep 17. 2012, she was found sitting on her haunches outside Sainsbury's in Garratt Lane watching people coming and going.

She was arrested but could not be interviewed because of her serious mental illness.

She told police in a statement that she gave birth to a child in August 2012 and she buried it in a park on the same day.

She said she thought she knew who the father was but had no contact with him.

The defendant told police she found the birth "too traumatic" to answer questions about the event.

She refused to tell police whether the baby was alive or dead before she buried it, but during an interview in April 2013, she admitted to a doctor that the child had in fact been alive. She was charged with murder after the admission.

At Friday's hearing the prosecution, however, accepted her plea of not guilty to murder but guilty of infanticide.

IANS