The Cologne Regional Court sentenced the mother of a dead baby found in front of a baby hatch to five years and six months in prison.

The 36-year-old was found guilty of killing her fifth child by neglect, a spokeswoman said on Monday.

The verdict in the case was issued late on Friday.

The trial was partly closed to the public.

The defendant's husband appeared as a joint prosecutor.

It was not yet clear on Monday whether the accused had appealed the verdict.

According to the indictment, the woman gave birth to the child alone in the bathroom of her apartment in July last year and also cut the umbilical cord herself.

Then she wrapped the baby and put it in one of her older children's wardrobes in order to take it to the baby hatch of a family center in the Nippes district the next morning.

There she is said to have placed the newborn without triggering the alarm of the baby hatch.

The baby, wrapped in a towel, was found dead in front of the hatch on July 12.

A discount store receipt found on the little one led to the thirty-six-year-old, who lived near the women's shelter.

The woman was arrested in August.