Mum sentenced to life in prison for murdering her newborn baby

A woman has been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of the murder of her newborn baby.

Leicester Crown Court heard during a four-week trial how Hannah Cobley, who had concealed her pregnancy from family and friends, inflicted severe head injuries on the infant and sealed her inside three plastic bags despite signs she may still have been alive.

She was convicted on 6 June of the murder of the baby girl, born at 32-weeks.

Today (7 June) she was sentenced to life imprisonment and was ordered to serve a minimum of 18 years before she is eligible for parole.

The 29-year-old from Stoney Stanton in Leicestershire abandoned the child's body in an overgrown area at the farm, where she lived with her parents and cousin.

Cobley denied murdering the baby in the early hours of April 26 2017 afterclaiming she had not killed or even harmed the infant.

Searches made on her phone which were examined as part of theinvestigation included "signs of stillbirth", how long a baby can survivewithout being fed and what happens when a newborn baby is dropped.

Senior investigating officer Detective Inspector Jon Blockley said: