A court in Russia has sentenced a 20-year-old woman to two years in jail for drowning her newborn baby in a hospital toilet.

The horror killing took place at Central City Hospital No. 20 in Yekaterinburg – Russia’s fourth-largest city – in February.

The head of the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Sverdlovsk Oblast, Valery Gorelykh, said: “She called for an ambulance due to abdominal pain.

“While in the hospital, she excused herself to the bathroom, where she gave birth to the child. Afterward, she cruelly disposed of the infant.”

After doctors found traces of blood, they called the police. A criminal case was then opened against the young woman for “murder by a mother of a newborn child”.

The senior assistant to the head of the Investigative Committee for Sverdlovsk Oblast, Alexander Shulga, said: “During the investigation, the Investigative Committee conducted an examination of the crime scene, interrogated several witnesses, and conducted a forensic medical examination of the deceased infant’s body.

“Sufficient evidence was gathered by the investigation, and as a result, the criminal case was sent to court.”

The young woman’s name was withheld, but local media said that she grew up in a large family and moved to Russia’s Ural Federal District from Nizhny Novgorod.

During the hearing at Yekaterinburg’s Chkalovsky District Court, the defendant admitted her guilt and was sentenced to two years behind bars.