Teenage mum hid dead baby in shoebox under her bed and went to exam
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A scared teenager gave birth alone in her bedroom then hid the baby ’s body in a shoebox, an inquest heard.
Ayesha Tariq, now 23, wept as she told how she kept her pregnancy hidden from her family by wearing baggy clothes.
Miss Tariq, then aged 19, later told police the baby girl did not cry and she decided to put the infant face down in a shoebox which she put under her bed.
She carried on as normal the next day, sitting a mock exam.
After three days her mother, Tasleem Akhtar, complained of a bad smell, searched the room and found some soiled bedding.
When she confronted her daughter, she broke down and showed her the hidden baby.
(Image: SWNS.com)
Miss Tariq, giving evidence from behind a screen in Bradford, West Yorks, said she was “scared and ashamed”.
She said: “Every day I wanted to ask someone for help, I don’t know what stopped me.”
Miss Tariq told her mother she was raped by two men, but later told police this was a lie and said she had been having a secret consensual relationship.
The inquest heard how the women put the box in their car boot. But they did not take it to Airedale Hospital for three days.
The baby’s mother refused to answer 36 questions about the circumstances. She told doctors the child was stillborn .
She was arrested on infanticide charges, but the CPS will not be taking further action.
Coroner Martin Fleming gave a narrative verdict, saying it could not be proved if the baby was “born alive or stillborn”.