New mother told social workers 'she might be killed if family found that she had sex before marriage'

The woman said her baby had to be adopted and that she did not want the father or anyone in her family to know that she had given birth, Mr Justice Holman was told.

She agreed to the baby going into council care on the day of the birth and said she could not have anything to do with the child.

The judge said the woman had emailed a social worker, saying: "I really love (the baby) and it really hurts me not to be (the baby's) mother because I can't look after (the baby). If my family find out, they are going to kill me."

Detail of the case has emerged in a ruling by Mr Justice Holman following a private hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

He has not identified anyone involving - including the council with responsibility for the child.

The judge ruled that the child should go into council care, describing the circumstances of the case as "exceptional".

"The mother has consistently said that the reason why she cannot have anything to do with her baby and does not want the father, whoever he may be, or any of his family or her own family even to know that she has given birth to a child is that she fears there would be grave consequences for her from her family and in the community within which she lives," said Mr Justice Holman.

"She says at its lowest that she would be ostracised by her family and the community, and at its highest and at worst that she herself might be killed."

He added: "This mother has consistently repeated to social workers this very great fear that she might, at worst, be killed if even the fact of her pregnancy and, therefore, that she had sexual intercourse outside marriage was learned by anyone within her community."

Mr Justice Holman said the woman was a member of an "ethnic minority community" but gave no further detail.

He said she had presented herself at a hospital when 29 weeks pregnant.