A MUM-to-be who was sent home from hospital after complaining of severe back pains, gave birth to her daughter, at home, down the toilet.

Nora Pratt, 36, had been sent home by hospital staff, who told her to return in a week's time as her baby was not due.

But four hours later she had her second child, Maria, in the downstairs toilet of her Burnley home.

Husband, Alan Pratt, said: "My wife made the tea and I fell asleep on the sofa. I was woken up by screaming and when I went to see what had happened, found the baby had been born."

The couple, who also have a five-year-old son, Alan, were taken to hospital where Mrs Pratt and baby Maria stayed for a few days.

The hospital would not comment on the ordeal, which happened in 1980, but a spokesperson for the hospital said: "If and when the father makes a formal complaint we will investigate.