Unlawful burial: Angela Owen, 47, wrapped the body in a binliner before dumping it in a makeshift grave
Angela Owen, 47, wrapped the body in a binliner before dumping it in the makeshift grave in Halifax, West Yorkshire, 12 years ago.
After keeping the crime secret for more than a decade, she handed herself in to police last year when a BBC Crimewatch appeal was launched.
She has was given a 12 month community order at Bradford Crown Court yesterday after she admitted preventing the lawful burial of the child.
Owen was living with her then boyfriend Paul Beaumont in the servant quarters of the 370-year-old Howroyd Hall when she gave birth prematurely while more than seven months pregnant.
The remains were discovered in the grounds of the mansion once owned by Emmerdale actor Richard Thorpe when it was being renovated in 2006.
Owen, now of Glastonbury, Somerset, gave birth to her stillborn child on her way to the toilet the night after being attacked by Mr Beaumont, the judge was told.
She had been in a 'volatile' relationship with him and hadn't told him she was pregnant, the court heard.
Owen said she saw her GP and told him she didn't want any more children, arranged for an abortion but never went through with it.
Beaumont, who has served time for fraud and driving offences, allegedly assaulted Owen around Christmas 2001, when he 'kicked her repeatedly in the stomach'.
Tests on the remains showed that it was the child of Owen and Mr Beaumont.
Christopher Tehrani, prosecuting, said that Own explained: 'The baby just fell out with a whoosh'.
'She went on to say the baby was stillborn, she put the baby in a bag and buried it under a Christmas tree in the garden,' he added.
Mr Tehrani said that bakery worker Owen didn't know she had to register the death of a child.
A few months later they moved out of the property with their young daughter.
Last year she admitted concealing the birth of the boy and preventing his lawful burial, as well as six unconnected offences of fraud between 2001 to 2004.
Sentencing Owen, Judge Robert Bartfield said: 'The known facts are you gave birth to the child somewhere beyond seven months into your pregnancy. It having been born in the house you buried the child in the garden of the premises you were living.
'The circumstances of which this event took place can never to a finite degree ever be established.'
Body find: The remains of the stillborn baby boy were unearthed in 2006 when Howroyd Hall, near Halifax, was being renovated
'She maintains she was assaulted by him quite viciously on the night before she went into labour in and gave birth to a stillborn child,' she added.
'She was not thinking straight. The body was buried in the garden because she wanted it to be near her.'
As well as completing her supervised community order, Owen must pay £400 towards prosecution costs.
After the hearing, she said: 'I would like to thank my family and friends for support.'
Howroyd Hall was owned by Emmerdale actor Richard Thorpe, who played pub landlord Alan Turner in Emmerdale, for 11 years until 1998.
The house, with a grade one listing, was built in 1642 by William Horton, one of the area's largest landowners, for his bride Elizabeth Gledhill and had links with the Horton family for more than 300 years. Guy Fawkes, Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton are all believed to have stayed there.
It also has many associations with the music world. Composer Ivor Novello was a frequent visitor and it was while staying at The Howroyd in the 1940s that he was inspired to write 'Perchance to Dream' and the music and lyrics of his best-known song 'We'll Gather Lilacs in the Spring Again.'
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