A teenage couple who had a stillborn baby in secret before hiding it in a lagoon have been spared prison.
Jessica Cooper and Sebastian Bowerman initially hid the body under a bed, a judge heard, before the 17-year-old father put the baby in a backpack and went out looking for a place to dispose of the remains.
The teenage dad eventually hid the corpse in the Blue Lagoon Nature Reserve, Milton Keynes.
But the deceit ate away at him and eventually he told his mother what had happened and she alerted the police.
The couple were arrested after searchers found the baby's body and later they were each charged with endeavouring to conceal the birth of a child.
They admitted the charge and appeared at crown court for sentencing.
A judge spared the pair jail, describing the case against them as a tragedy. He gave them both a community order and said it was the right time to get their lives back on track.
Cooper and Bowerman discovered that the 16-year-old girl had become pregnant during her time as a GCSE student at school.
The court in Aylesbury, Bucks., heard how the couple had decided they would keep the pregnancy a secret from everyone.
Prosecutor Abigail Husbands told the court: "On March 2, 2018 Bowerman received a call from Cooper saying that something was happening and he arrived at her house at about 8.30am.
"He found her screaming in pain and realised that she was having the baby. He took her to the bathroom and got towels and the baby arrived 25 minutes later."
Ms Husbands told the court the baby boy, called Garrick Cooper, briefly moved his arms and legs but it was soon clear he was not breathing and the couple realised he had died.
The prosecutor added: "They put the baby in a bin bag and put it at the foot of the bed and it stayed there for a few days.
They later agreed that they should take Garrick to the Blue Lagoon Nature Reserve, Milton Keynes.
"Bowerman took Garrick in his backpack at about 1am and found some undergrowth near a footpath. He put baby Garrick there wrapped in towels and the bin bag.
"He told the police he had returned to the location later but he had forgotten exactly where the baby was."
Judge Francis Sheridan stressed Cooper, of Little Stocking, Milton Keynes, and Bowerman, of Quantock Close, Milton Keynes, had not had any hand in the death of the baby Garrick.
The court heard that in June 2018, three months after they had hidden the baby, Bowerman phoned his horrified mother Claire to reveal what had happened.
Defence barristers for the couple revealed they had both struggled with their mental health since the tragedy of baby Garrick's death.
Sentencing the couple, Judge Sheridan said: "This case is a tragedy. Cooper was petrified of her mother finding out she was pregnant, she was a GCSE student who wanted to be successful in life.
"Before you could do anything the time had passed and your parents did not know about your pregnancy. Then the time came and you gave birth to Garrick and in the pain, you realised you were actually in labour. The only person you felt you could turn to was your boyfriend.
"He tried to do what he could to help. It is unclear exactly what happened. Garrick could have been stillborn, but that appears unlikely to me, or he had a few breaths of life in him and that was all he had and he died shortly after birth."
The judge told Cooper: "If you are to have another child you need to be able to love it and cherish it. You need help to do that."
