'DISGUSTING STATE'
Constance Marten & Mark Gordon left cottage filthy before car exploded as they started trek that ‘left baby dead’
A RUNAWAY couple trashed a holiday cottage before their car erupted in flames sparking a 54-day hunt that ended in their baby dying.
Constance Marten, 36, and Mark Gordon, 49, allegedly concealed the birth of baby girl Victoria after she became pregnant in early 2022.
9
9
9
The pair then went on the run to stop her being taken away from them and lived in a "thin and flimsy" tent in the middle of winter, the heard.
Baby Victoria "spent much of her life" in a supermarket bag for life before her tragic death, it was said.
Her body was later discovered in the shopping bag covered in rubbish inside an abandoned shed like she was "refuse", it was said.
On December 20, they booked into a holiday cottage in Northumberland but left it seven days later "in something of a state".
Read more news
The owner of the cottage told the court it was trashed by Marten and Gordon when the couple stayed over.
Maria Richardson said in a statement read to court that it was the first time her and her husband had rented their holiday cottage, which they had renovated themselves.
Marten and Gordon left wine stains on the quilt, urine on the bathroom floor and cat litter on the living room chairs, the court heard.
She said that Marten had booked the two-bed cottage on booking.com on 20 December 2022 and asked to check-in that night.
Most read in The Sun
She said: "On 20 December 2022 at 4.04pm my husband came downstairs to tell me we had our first booking.
"The booking was for the same day for six nights and the total cost was £367.20."
Marten then messaged Ms Richardson saying: "Your property looks nice even without a bath - it's a really nice cottage, one I intend to tell my friends about."
Marten later rang her and asked how she could get the keys.
Ms Richardson said: "I asked where she was coming from and she stated Sheffield.
"I explained it would be pitch black due to time and gave her the key code. She sounded very young and demure during the phone call.
"I remember thinking she was in a busy place - it sounded very noisy and at the time I thought it was a busy office."
Later Marten text her: "Hi Maria thank you very much for the prosecco and chocolates - that was much appreciated.
"I'm curious - did you do the interior design yourself? Thanks, Constance."
Ms Richardson then sent texts on Christmas Eve and on Boxing Day with check-out instructions but Marten did not reply.
She and her husband then went to the cottage, which has a backyard overlooking woodland, on 28 December.
She said: "As I went to put the key in the front door we both noticed the living room curtains were still closed.
"The first thing I noticed was candle wax all over the living room table and on the carpet.
"There were washed up pans on the kitchen sink, dirty cups, glasses. The hob was caked in food and there were food stains all over.
";There were urine stains all over the toilet and floor. There was cat litter all over the floor and chair in the living room.
"There were numerous empty water bottles around the bedroom floor, empty cartons of fruit, the quilt had red wine stains and the throw had a curry stain.
"In the back bedroom the bedding on both single beds was unslept in but disturbed."
The bedsheets from the double bed were found laundered in the washing machine, the court heard.
Marten claimed to police she gave birth in the holiday cottage but the prosecution dispute this.
9
9
9
9
Jurors were also shown a video of Marten and Gordon's in flames on the M61 motorway on January 5 last year.
Van driver Ken Hudson told the Old Bailey he pulled over to help the couple after seeing the fire and noticed Marten was clutching a baby.
He asked if the tot was "OK", causing Marten to respond: "She's fine."
Mr Hudson wept as he told how he touched the baby's head and said words to the effect of "god bless keep safe".
He added: "Throughout the year [since Victoria's death] I have been cut up myself because I believe that if I had stayed with that vehicle and the people that that baby may still be alive."
The discovery of the burning vehicle sparked a huge manhunt for the pair after officers found placenta wrapped in a towel.
Other items in the car included "new baby" nappies and newborn clothing, as well as "burner phones".
A missing person's enquiry was launched, which became "bigger and bigger news" as time went on, jurors were told.
But instead of contacting police, Marten and Gordon allegedly instead tried to hide their whereabouts.
They are also accused of choosing to "deprive the baby of what she needed" - including "warmth, shelter and food and ultimately safety".
In the middle of a "cold winter and in cruel and obviously dangerous weather conditions", the pair "essentially went off-grid".
Jurors heard they lived in a tent with barely any clothes and no means of keeping warm and dry.
With "scarcely" any food, Marten and Gordon remained on the run, failed to seek medical assistance or even register the birth as they moved from "location to the location", it was said.
After setting their car alight, the court heard they travelled to Liverpool in a taxi with the baby kept underneath Marten's coat.
They then headed to Harwich in Suffolk around 270 miles away and checked into a Premier Inn.
Jurors heard they were asked by locals if they were the "people they had seen on the news" so the couple left for Colchester then London.
They allegedly bought camping supplies despite the weather and transferred the baby into the supermarket bag.
Opening the case yesterday, prosecutor Tom Little KC said the case involved "the entirely avoidable death of a young baby".
The prosecutor said: "A young baby girl who would still, we say, be alive if it was not for the reckless, utterly selfish, callous, cruel, arrogant and ultimately grossly negligent conduct of the two defendants on trial.
"They were the parents of that young baby girl. They put their relationship and their view of life before the life of that little baby girl.
"Rather than act in the obvious best interests of a vulnerable baby, one that they should have cared for and looked after, they decided instead that they knew best.
"They decided that they knew better than anyone else. No matter who they were. They decided to ignore the advice they had previously been given.
"And it was their selfish desire to keep their baby girl that led inexorably to the death of that very baby."
Jurors were told Marten became pregnant with Victoria in early 2022 after four of her and Gordon's other children had been taken into care.
By the end of the year, the pair were said to be living an off-grid existence amid fears their new baby would also be removed, it was said.
Marten and Gordon deny manslaughter by gross negligence, concealment of the birth of a child, cruelty to a person under 16 and perverting the course of justice.
They also deny causing or allowing the death of a child, an alternative charge to manslaughter, between 4 January and 27 February last year.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Marten's father was a page to the late Queen, while her grandmother was a goddaughter to the Queen Mother.
The trial continues.
9
9
Topics