LONDON - A WOMAN has told a British court she accidentally flushed her newborn down the toilet because she didn't realise she was giving birth.

Claire Jones says she knew she was pregnant from an affair with a colleague but thought the pain she suffered in the early hours of Dec 28 was from diarrhoea.

Jones told a coroner's court in Cardiff, Wales, on Monday that she only realised what had happened when she saw a foot in the toilet bowl.

She said she tried unsuccessfully to revive the baby and then put the body in the trunk of her car.

The corpse was found in Jones' vehicle after she was arrested.

She was given a suspended sentence for concealing the baby's birth.

The coroner's court is investigating the circumstances of the baby's death. -- AP