A mother of four who stabbed her newborn baby daughter 16 times before tossing her corpse into a charity clothes donation box has been jailed in Germany.

Shocked workers found the mutilated infant’s body while they were emptying the box in Tangerhuette, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt last March.

The Stendal Regional Court heard how Sandra K., 41, used the same pocket knife to cut her umbilical cord as she did to kill her fifth baby, a girl, after giving birth at home.

Prosecutors said: “A post-mortem confirmed that the baby was born alive and healthy and died as a result of violence. The body was examined by an emergency doctor who was very quickly on the scene and confirmed that the baby was dead.”

Medical experts told the trial that the mother of four had the mental abilities of a 12-year-old and was less responsible for her actions than an average person.

Although she confessed to the killing when the trial began last month in August, judges sentenced her to just six years behind bars because of her reduced culpability.

The verdict, delivered on 20th September, is not final and can be appealed with both prosecution and defence keeping their options open.