'Baby Teo could have survived': Coventry student who hid baby in suitcase guilty of murder

Jia Xin Teo, 22, of Raglan Street, was convicted today (October 24) at Warwick Crown Court of one count of murder.

Teo, a student from Malaysia, concealed her pregnancy and gave birth to a full-term baby on 4 March 2024.

She placed her in a cereal box, then inside a sealable plastic bag and then into a suitcase.

By the time police discovered her body two days later, the baby was dead.

Teo denied murdering her baby and said she had been hearing voices which told her to kill the baby/harm the baby, however the jury rejected that defence and found her guilty of murder. She will be sentenced at a later date.

James Leslie Francis, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Jia Xin Teo hid her pregnancy from everyone she knew and arrived in the UK knowing that she was likely to give birth here.

“She had opportunity to seek help but instead chose to carry her pregnancy in secret and give birth alone.

"After she gave birth, she still did not tell anybody and refused to go to the hospital to get checked.

"She lied to friends who cared about her, to doctors at the hospital and to the police so that no one found her baby.

"She did not tell the police where she hid her baby until two days had passed by which time the baby would certainly be dead.

“Baby Teo was alive after birth and could have survived but Jia Xin Teo made the decision to place her inside a cereal box knowing that it would kill her.

“Today, the jury have made the decision to convict her for her actions and I would like to thank the jury for their careful consideration in this complex and sensitive case.”