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A mother who hacked off her 16-month-old son's head with a kitchen knife told police she had 'no regrets' about killing her baby.

Feng Tai, 31, confessed to first throttling the helpless tot until he passed out at the family home before decapitating him while he was still alive.

"I did it and I have no regrets. He won't have to suffer now because he is free," she said in a statement to northern China police.

The killer's brother Feng Tsao, 34, said: "She had been depressed since the birth of the baby and her husband works away from home for long periods.

"The family helped her, her husband's family helped her as well, but she was often very distressed.

"She called me in the middle of the night to say she'd killed her baby and at first I didn't believe her but when I got to her home she showed me the head. It was horrific."

(Image: EuroPics)

Police found the baby's body buried in a shallow grave in the back garden at the family home in the city of Anguo, in north-eastern China's Hebei province.

A police spokesman: "The baby's mother has confessed to the killing but she is clearly unwell and has been committed for psychiatric evaluation. We are continuing to investigate. The child's father has been informed."

Dad Liu Yen speaking on the phone to local TV said: "It is a terrible tragedy. I had no choice but to work away from home and I know my wife was often very unhappy about it.

"We needed the money, but now I wish I had never gone. I have the money but have lost my wife and my child."