Coventry student who put newborn baby in cereal box given life sentence for murder

Warning: this article contains descriptions which some readers may find distressing

A woman who killed her newborn baby by placing her in a cereal box shortly after giving birth and then concealing the box in a suitcase has been jailed for a minimum of 17 years.

Jia Xin Teo, who is 22 and from Raglan Street in Coventry, denied murdering her baby and said she had been hearing voices which told her to kill her child.

The jury at Warwick Crown Court found her guilty of one count of murder on the 24 October. She was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 17 years on the 25 October.

Teo came to the UK from Malaysia in early 2024 to study at Coventry University.

She gave birth on the 4 March, hid the baby in a cereal box and then put it in a suitcase.

West Midlands Police were called when hospital staff noticed that Teo showed signs of having given birth, which she had denied.

They found the baby's body two days later.

"Baby Teo was alive after birth and could have survived"

Speaking after the conviction, James Leslie Francis from 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.

“Today, the jury have made the decision to convict her for her actions and I would like to thank the jury for their careful consideration in this complex and sensitive case.”

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