Constance Marten trial – latest: Aristocrat and Mark Gordon carried baby in Lidl bag ‘while still alive’

The trial of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon has adjourned for the day, with jurors expected to return for the remainder of the defence team’s summing up at 10.30am on Wednesday.

Mr Femi-Ola told the court baby Victoria died in a tragic accident and insisted co-sleeping does not amount to neglect.

“It was an accident. It happened and it can happen. It happened and it can happen anywhere that a mother and baby are together,” he said, adding 149,000 babies co-sleep with their parents in this country every single night.

“We suggest that sleeping with a baby doesn’t amount to neglect and is not unlawful,” he added.

He told the jury there is no evidence that Marten and Gordon were smoking, drinking or taking drugs in the tent.

“No, she was in her mother’s arms. It was a tragic accident,” he continued. “One can only imagine the sheer terror they must have felt when they discovered their beautiful girl had passed.”

In his closing speech, Gordon’s barrister John Femi-Ola KC disputed the way the prosecution had cast the defendants.

He told jurors: “In opening this case, she and her partner Mark Gordon were described as callous and cruel.

“That woman you saw in the witness box over a number of days, ask yourself in all honesty, is callous the first image that comes into your mind?

“The name Constance is rooted in Latin. Constania, it means steadfastness, resolute, faithful, loyal, dedicated and perseverance no matter the obstacle.”

Mr Femi-Ola suggested that while giving evidence she had been “posh but polite, calm and intelligent”.

Mr Femi-Ola, for Gordon, said the fact the parents bought a bottle of petrol on 12 January to ‘cremate’ Victoria supports their case that she died on 9 January, a day after they arrived in Sussex.

“The defence has been the baby passed on the 9th – they arrived on the 8th,” he told the court.

“We say the key – the real key – is that bottle of petrol. Why would the bottle of petrol be bought on the 12 January at the time in that petrol station when the baby is not with them?

“The bottle of petrol was bought because the baby had died.”

He said it was “impossible” that a witness heard the infant crying in Seaford later that month.

Mr Femi-Ola, defending Gordon, insisted the couple “fled in terror” after their car caught fire on the M61 on 5 January.

As an example of their heightened state of mind, he highlighted the 34 burner phones discovered left behind in the burnt-out car amid fears their messages and emails were being hacked.

“They fled. You may think they fled in haste. They fled in fear and they fled in terror,” he told the jury.

“And why do I say that? Everything is left behind…money, about £2000, all the clothing, all the possessions. All left behind. Because Constance Marten didn’t want them to take her baby away from her.”

Mr Femi-Ola, for Gordon, told the jury it is not unlawful for a mother not to seek medical care during her pregnancy.

“A woman can choose not to register her pregnancy. She can choose not to have antenatal care. She can choose not to have post-natal care,” he told the court.

“She can choose when and where to give birth. It’s her choice. It’s not unlawful.”

The trial has returned following a brief adjournment for lunch, with more expected to be heard from Mark Gordon’s lawyer.

Now the prosecution has ended its closing speeches, it’s the turn of the defence with John Femi-Ola KC – for Gordon – going first.

He characterised Marten as a lioness whose love for her children “overflowed”.

He admitted the pair may be described as an “unlikely couple” but challenged the prosecution’s description of Marten in their opening as “callous”.

He said the mother was a “headstrong woman” who was “steadfast” under cross examination and resolute in her “deep, deep love” for her children.

“As you watched and listened to her you may think that she’s a lioness,” he said, later referring to her children as her “cubs”.

Concluding his case, Mr Little invited the jury to find the parents guilty of gross negligence manslaughter.

He said the prosecution’s primary case is that Victoria died as result of hypothermia.

He insisted Marten and Gordon’s four other children had been lawfully taken into care by a family court judge, adding: “What happened on the South Downs proves that judge right on the conduct of those parents.”

He later added: “She didn’t have enough clothing to keep herself warm and baby Victoria died as a result.”

Mr Little claims that Marten had lied about the date of baby Victoria’s death.

He reminded the jury of evidence from a witness who claimed she saw the couple on a coastal path near her home in Seaford, East Sussex, between 16 and 27 January.

The same witness claimed she had heard a baby crying overnight a few days earlier.

This is at odds with the couple’s version of events – in which they allege Victoria died on 9 January and they never travelled to Seaford.

“Not only has Marten lied on practically every issue in this case but she has lied about going to Seaford and about the date of death,” he told the jury