BABY TRAGEDY
‘Wealthy’ Constance Marten & lover ‘used trust money for cabs while evading cops – but baby had no clothes before death’
More tragic details emerge at trial after couple sparked huge hunt when placenta found in burning car
A "WEALTHY" aristocrat and her lover used her trust to pay for taxis while on-the-run but their tragic baby was left with "no clothes", a court heard.
Constance Marten, 36, and Mark Gordon, 49, allegedly concealed the birth of baby girl Victoria after she became pregnant in early 2022.
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They sparked a nationwide hunt after fleeing a burning car to stop the tot being taken away from them, it is said.
Jurors heard this included living in a "thin and flimsy" tent in the middle of winter and causing Victoria to spend "much of her life" in a Lidl bag for life.
Her body was later discovered in the shopping bag covered in rubbish inside an abandoned shed like she was "refuse", The Old Bailey was told.
The jury was told today how the couple used Marten's trust fund to pay hundreds of pounds for taxis while they evaded police.
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This included splurging £400 on a cab from Liverpool to Essex after their own car was discovered burning on the M61 motorway with placenta inside, it was said.
Marten, whose family lived at Dorset estate Crichel House, received nearly £19,000 in payments into her account from a trust fund while on the run.
Her father was a page to the late Queen, while her grandmother was a goddaughter to the Queen Mother.
Despite this, jurors were told baby Victoria was being carted around by her parents in just a nappy despite the cold temperatures.
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Cab driver Ali Yaryar, who picked the couple up from Liverpool, told the court: "I think the baby had no clothes".
He also said he noticed Marten was holding the tot under her jacket, with the couple allegedly refusing the offer of a car seat.
When they finally arrived in Essex, Gordon paid Mr Yaryar £400 in £20 notes, it was said.
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 over fears Victoria would be taken into care like their four other children.
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.
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."
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.
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They also deny causing or allowing the death of a child, an alternative charge to manslaughter, between 4 January and 27 February last year.
The trial continues.
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