A SOMERSET mother has admitted burying the body of her stillborn baby girl in her back garden.

Emma Sworld was given an absolute discharge at Taunton Crown Court after pleading guilty to endeavouring to conceal the birth of a child by secretly disposing of the body.

William Hunter, prosecuting, said she and another daughter were staying with a friend in Yeovil when the case came to light.

Sworld, 31, of Eastfield, Bruton, showed the friend a photo of her daughter and a baby "who didn't look alilve" in August 2015.

She said the baby had been stillborn and was in heaven, claiming she gave birth on the toilet in her bathroom as she did not know she was pregnant.

After putting the body in the airing cupboard so her daughter would not see it, Sworld bathed it before burying it in her garden.

When she later told another friend of her dead baby, police were informed and the remains were dug up.

Mr Hunter told Taunton Crown Court the father, Simon Dexter, was interviewed by police and said Sword had told him in May or June 2015 that she was expecting his child.

But she told him she did not think he was the right person to have a baby with and he believed she was going to have a termination.

Handing Sworld an absolute discharge, Judge David Ticehurst said: "This case is one of unimaginable tragedy for everyone involved."