Cardiff // Current

Mother 'flushed baby down the toilet'

A mother has told an inquest how she accidentally flushed her baby down a toilet before hiding his body in her car boot.
Claire Jones became pregnant after an affair with a work colleague but hid her condition from friends and family.
She said did not realise she had given birth to son Daniel until she flushed the toilet at her partner's parents home in Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan.
Ms Jones tried to revive him but panicked. The hearing is continuing.
Ms Jones, of Pontnewydd, Cwmbran, told the hearing she did not reveal her pregnancy, telling friends and family, including David Stoneman, her partner of 11 years, that a wheat allergy had caused a hard mass to form in her stomach. I wish I had done something more, but I just panicked. I miss him every day

But on 28 December last year, a week after her due date, she experience pains which she put down to diarrhoea. She told the inquest: While I was still on the toilet, I flushed it, and I felt something pull. I stood up slightly, and I could see a foot in the bowl of the toilet. Cardiff Coroner Mary Hassell asked Ms Jones if she realised she had given birth. Ms Jones replied: 'no'. She said the baby was underneath the water covered in toilet paper. Ms Jones broke down as she said: 'I could see the baby's foot, so I pulled the baby out.'

'I sat by the toilet. I put him on my lap. He wasn't crying. I was trying to feel for a pulse and there was nothing; Mr Jones was asked why she did not call for help. She said; 'Because nobody knew I was pregnant. Because he wasn't breathing, I just panicked. I didn't know what to do.'

She said she tried to revive him by blowing into his mouth and massaging his heart.
She said: 'I just kept trying and trying, and it wasn't working. There was nothing I could do. He was blue. I wrapped him in a towel. I don't remember how, but I must have put him in the boot of the car.' The inquest heard Ms Jones was arrested 10 days later at the home in St Mellons, Cardiff, she shared with Mr Stoneman and Daniel's body was found in her Vauxhall Astra car.A mother has told an inquest how she accidentally flushed her baby down a toilet before hiding his body in her car boot. Claire... more