Student who murdered her newborn baby by putting her in a cereal box sentenced to life in prison

Jia Xin Teo, 22, a student from Malaysia who arrived in the UK earlier this year to study at Coventry University, concealed her pregnancy and gave birth to a full-term baby on March 4.

The 22-year-old, of Raglan Street in Coventry, placed her in a cereal box, then inside a sealable plastic bag and then into a suitcase.

She did not tell the police where her baby was until two days later, when they discovered the baby's lifeless body themselves.

Teo denied murdering her baby and said she had been hearing voices which told her to kill the baby, however the jury rejected that defence and found her guilty of murder.

She was sentenced to life imprisonment on October 25, with a minimum term of 17 years before she can be considered for release.

James Leslie Francis, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "Jia Xin Teo hid her pregnancy from everyone she knew and arrived in the UK knowing that she was likely to give birth here.

"She had opportunity to seek help but instead chose to carry her pregnancy in secret and give birth alone. After she gave birth, she still did not tell anybody and refused to go to the hospital to get checked. She lied to friends who cared about her, to doctors at the hospital and to the police so that no one found her baby. She did not tell the police where she hid her baby until two days had passed, by which time the baby would certainly be dead.

"Baby Teo was alive after birth and could have survived but Jia Xin Teo made the decision to place her inside a cereal box knowing that it would kill her."