Moment Constance Marten 'seen filling up water bottle with petrol at station'

05 February 2024 , 21:55

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Moment Constance Marten 'seen filling up water bottle with petrol at station'

The moment aristocrat Constance Marten allegedly filled up a water bottle with petrol before her newborn baby girl was found dead.

Today, jurors at the trial were shown footage from January 12 last year of the moment a woman, alleged to be Marten, walks over to a petrol pump and fills up a water bottle full of fuel. Video taken at roughly 6:30am shows the woman in a navy coat and black trousers bending down towards a petrol pump and slowly filling up a bottle. Concealed with a hood and face mask, the woman then makes her way inside the shop. Jurors were also shown CCTV footage allegedly showing Marten buying snacks at a Texaco petrol station on the same day. The court heard that it was among thousands of hours of footage collected by police during the investigation.

Marten, 36, and Mark Gordon, 49, are on trial at the Old Bailey accused of the manslaughter of their daughter Victoria. It is alleged the couple travelled across England in taxis and lived in a tent on the South Downs in a bid to keep the baby after four other children were taken into care. They were arrested in East Sussex last February 27 and, days later, Victoria's body was found in a Lidl supermarket bag covered in rubbish in a disused shed.

CCTV footage of Constance Marten filling a bottle with petrol at Texaco in Newhaven (PA)

Last week, Pauline Mason told jurors that she had seen a man with a woman carrying a lifeless baby in a sling in Stanmer Park in Brighton on February 19. Mrs Mason, who had been in a mobility scooter, had described the baby as being very pale with her head "wobbling", "floppy" and "unsteady". On Monday, her husband of 55 years told jurors that she had insisted on telling police about the alleged sighting because she had failed to make a report about the Babes in the Wood murders of two girls in Brighton years before.

CCTV footage allegedly shows Constance Marten buying snacks at a Texaco petrol station (Met Police)

Michael Mason said his wife had reminded him about seeing a tent during their outing to Stanmer Park. The retired prison officer told jurors that he made an online report to police last March 1 at his wife's request. He told jurors: "You might cast your mind back to the Babes in the Wood murders. She was convinced she saw you-know-who and the two young girls. She saw them and she did not report it. If she had reported it, it might have gone differently. This time, she said we must report it. I did report as I remembered it and as she told me."

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Constance Marten, 35, was born into one of England’s most prominent aristocratic families (Facebook)

He added: "To be honest, my wife was more observant than me because she is a keen photographer and I think women are more observant than the average man, I might be wrong there." Under cross-examination, Mr Mason was asked why his wife had not taken pictures of what she had seen that day. The witness said that as a member of a camera club, taking pictures of people close up was a "bit of a no-no".

The defendants, of no fixed address, deny manslaughter by gross negligence between January 4 and February 27 last year. They are also charged with perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child, child cruelty and causing or allowing the death of a child. The trial continues continues.

Rachel Hagan