Girl 'killed baby in bath'

A teenage girl killed her baby after giving birth in the bath, an inquest at Yeovil, Somerset, was told yesterday.

The 16-year-old student, who did not know she was pregnant, said: 'I had to try to stop him breathing.' She banged the baby boy's head against the bath, hit him with a mirror when he made a spluttering noise and smothered him with a jumper.

The coroner, Nicholas Rheinberg, recorded an open verdict. He ordered that the girl, who gave evidence from her hospital bedside and was too ill to attend the inquest, should not be identified. Mr Rheinberg said it had been decided not to prosecute her.