Woman who buried her baby alive on Tooting Common was sleeping on gravestones and eating bread left for birds

Elita Amantova, 39, pleaded guilty to infanticide at the Old Bailey today.

The court heard that between July 25 and September 11, 2012, she killed her baby by burying the child alive.

Amantova, Latvian by birth, had been diagnosed in her early thirties of an acute schizophrenic-like disorder.

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She came to Britain a few years ago when she fell in with organised criminals in Norfolk and worked as a prostitute. She managed to escape and moved to London.

In 2012 a member of the public, Verity Verster, noticed Amantova was sleeping in the Garratt Lane burial ground, sometimes on gravestones.

She was seen eating berries and bread people had left for the birds and always wore a blonde wig and the same clothes.

In July 2012 Ms Verster noticed Amantova was heavily pregnant and informed police and social services.

The last time Ms Verster saw her was August 30 when Amantova was lying down on the grass in the burial ground.

A Wandsworth safer neighbourhoods officer had also been to speak to her and she indicated she had been working as a prostitute and was living in Tooting.

When he asked her if she was pregnant she covered her stomach and denied it. When pressed again she said "There is a strong possibility that I am".

The officer tried to get her to go to the Welbeck health clinic, in Wandsworth High Street, but she refused and promised she would visit a doctor.

Then on September 10 a Wandsworth Council worker found a baby leg and foot on the ground in a tractor yard in Dr Johnson Avenue on Tooting Common.

The court heard the leg was infested with maggots. A further search revealed a thigh and a calf that had been eaten through, exposing the bone.

Police called in a fox expert who said foxes had most likely found the body and brought the body parts into the yard.

Medical experts said the body parts showed one to two weeks of decomposition.

Then on September 17, police were called to Sainsbury's on Garratt Lane where they found Amantova sitting on her haunches at the rear entrance. She was arrested for concealing a birth.

She told police she had given birth to the child without any help or assistance and buried it at about 2pm on the same day.

Later she told her psychiatrist the baby was alive when she buried it and she was charged with murder.

A police dog scours the park last year 

She entered a not guilty plea this morning and it was accepted by the prosecution.

Prosecutor Zoe Johnson QC said: "This is a very tragic and sensitive case.

“It is clear that Miss Amantova was ill to an extent prior to her giving birth.

“It was undoubtedly the act of giving birth that exacerbated her existing condition.

“The crown felt it was in the interests of the public and Miss Amantova that this plea on count two [infanticide] was accepted.”

Judge Paul Worsley QC sentenced her to a hospital order and told her: "I have made the order that you go to hospital where [your doctor] will look after you until you are fit to be released."

The court heard Amantova will probably receive lifelong treatment or care for her mental health issues.