Constance Marten trial news: Aristocrat who denies manslaughter fears she’ll never get other children back

Taking to the witness stand on Thursday, Constance Marten became emotional at points as she recalled the death of her baby Victoria, which occurred while the couple were travelling around the country trying to evade the authorities.

Here’s a recap of the key points from her first day of evidence:

• Marten denied exposing her baby to the cold and told the court: “I gave her the best that any mother would.”
• She became tearful when asked if she or Mark Gordon had ever harmed any of her five children and denied putting the couple’s interests ahead of their welfare.
• The couple bought a tent to lay low from prying eyes after panicking once realising that appeals for information on their whereabouts were on the news.
• Marten denied carrying her child in a carrier bag and said Gordon had attempted to resuscitate Victoria once she was found dead in her jacket.
• The couple believed they were being pursued by private investigators and used burner phones when travelling around the country. 
• Marten said she had “great difficulty” with her wider family, and that she had begun severing ties with them two years before she met Gordon in an incense shop in 2014. The two married in a ceremony in Peru two years later. 

Constance Marten, who denies gross negligence manslaughter of her newborn, told jurors she had done nothing to harm the child, who died after she and the child’s father Mark Gordon allegedly spent weeks living in a tent in freezing conditions.

Giving evidence from the witness box at the Old Bailey on Thursday, the 36-year-old choked back tears as she described how the death of her baby – to whom she gave birth at an Airbnb on Christmas Eve – is something she will never recover from.

Crime Correspondent Amy-Clare Martin reports from the Old Bailey:

Marten said her “main fear” was for Victoria when she fled the scene of the car fire near Bolton, leaving behind her bag and bank card.

She also abandoned 34 “burner” phones that she said she used to evade hired private investigators, who she said included retired police officers and ex-secret service officials.

Marten went on to describe travelling from the North West to Essex, where she learned from a member of the public about media reports about them.

She told jurors she had not slept much and was in a “heightened state of panic”.

She said: “I think Mark and I were in a state of panic with all the media attention and not knowing what to do. I was hyper-vigilant.”

They moved on to East Ham in east London to try to blend in but found it had the “opposite effect” leading to the decision to get a tent, the court heard.

She said: “We wanted to get a flat in East Ham but we realised there was no way that was going to happen. Our options were slowly diminishing so we thought let’s get a tent and lay low away from prying eyes.”

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In a tearful admission, Marten told the jury how she and Gordon had considered suicide in the wake of Victoria’s death.

The mother said she had bought some petrol and was considering cremating the infant, after seeing similar funerals in India, but could not go through with it.

“At one point Mark said let’s jump in it with her and call it quits,” she told the court.

“Let’s just all have a fire and say goodbye to life together. We just had enough at that point.”

The mother told the court she and Gordon had “a thousand different thoughts” going through their heads after Victoria died.

She told jurors she held the newborn for several hours before saying some “parting words” to her daughter, who she wrapped in a black headscarf and placed in a bag for life.

“I immediately panicked and thought I just don’t know what to do they are going to have a field day with this – the media, the press, social services…because she was in my care and she’s not alive,” she said.

“I panicked and thought how am I going to get my other four kids back now that Victoria’s passed away.”

Voice trembling, Marten relived the moment she woke up to find her baby dead inside her jacket.

She told the Old Bailey baby Victoria been “happy and content” as they pitched a tent in the South Downs on 8 January last year.

But she awoke to find her dead after she fell asleep with her inside her jacket.

“I had her in my jacket and when I woke up my head was on the floor,” she told the jury.

“I took her out of my jacket. I believe I woke Mark up and said ‘babe there’s something wrong’.

“But he didn’t believe me so he tried to resuscitate her but she wasn’t alive. He just didn’t accept that she wasn’t alive. He was trying to see if she would breathe.”

The mother denied ever using a Lidl carrier bag to transport her newborn baby Victoria while they were on the run.

She said they had ditched a buggy along with a distinctive red blanket because it gave away that they had a baby while they trying to stay under the radar.

Asked if she ever carried Victoria in a bag, she responded: “Absolutely not.”

She insisted the child was concealed under either her or Gordon’s coat as they travelled the country evading the authorities.

Marten told the jury that she and Gordon had hoped to get a flat in East Ham, but realised that was “never going to happen” after people started recognising them.

They also feared a flat would leave them nowhere to run with Victoria if police came knocking on their door, the court heard.

“Our options were slowly diminishing so we thought let’s just get a tent and lay low away from prying eyes,” she said.

She insisted Victoria’s wellbeing was their “primary concern”, adding they gave her parental love, care, warmth and food.

Marten told the jury their plans “disintegrated” after their car caught fire on the M61 near Bolton on 5 January last year.

From there they travelled the country by taxi, acting on “impulse and instinct” and paying in cash, she said.

She carried the infant under her jacket in a blanket which she made into a sling, she added.

The couple only learnt they were on the news after a man recognised them at a train station in Harwich, Essex.

“That’s when we found out that we were on the news. We just panicked…didn’t know what to do really,” she told the court, adding: “I became hypervigilant thinking everyone knew who we were.”

She said they felt “extremely stressed” and feared if they were spotted “the police would come and take Victoria away”.

Constance Marten became tearful when she was asked if she had ever harmed any of her five children.

She said: “Absolutely not. Mark and I love our kids more than anything in the world so I’m pretty angry about the fact they had to go through this process. It’s not good enough.”

Challenged on the prosecution suggestion she and Gordon put their interests ahead of the children, she said: “No, there is literally nothing I would not do for my children.”