A GWENT woman hid her dead newborn baby in the attic of her home, a court heard yesterday.

Maxine Davies, 30, concealed her pregnancy from family and friends and "panicked" when the newborn was not breathing or moving.

At Caerphilly Magistrates Court, Davies, of Cwmcarn Road, Pontywaun, pleaded guilty to concealing the birth of a baby.

She was living in a council house in Farm View, Pengam, when she got pregnant, but knowing her partner did not want a baby, she decided to hide it, the court was told.

One night, her contractions started and she gave birth on her bed, but the newborn was not breathing or moving.

The court heard Davies panicked, so early the next day, she put the baby in a box of teddy bears and cuddly toys and left him in her wardrobe for three days before wrapping the box in a black plastic bag and moving it to the attic with a note reading: Private, do not open.

She never went in the attic again, even buying new Christmas decorations so she would not have to go up there.

The boy's death was calculated to be between June and December 2008.

Rob Simpkins, prosecuting, said Davies left her council house unannounced in August 2009.

Caerphilly council began to clear the address for a new tenant in September after discovering she had left.

On September 15, the third day council workers had been in the house, one employee began clearing the attic when he came across the black bag.

The box was opened by workers and the grim discovery was made.

The subsequent police activity around Davies' former home prompted a friend to text her, so Davies, realising what they had found, handed herself in at Blackwood police station and confessed.

When interviewed, Davies said she panicked, adding: "I felt like a monster, I felt I had hid it from everybody and there was no-one to help."

Nathan Fear, for Davies, said: "We find ourselves in a situation where the victim and the defendant are the same person. Not a day goes past when she doesn't remember that night and the baby she so wanted had died on her. This memory has haunted her."

A post-mortem examination showed the pregnancy was a 38-week term and it concluded there had not been anything like a survival period of one week, "if any at all."

The court heard a proper funeral has been arranged for the baby next week to try and help bring the matter to a conclusion.

Giving Davies an absolute discharge, chairman of the bench, Anthony Harris, said: "This is undoubtedly and tragic case."