Constance Marten and lover 'stole and scavenged while on the run', trial hears

06 February 2024 , 15:52

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Constance Marten and Mark Gordon are on trial for the manslaughter of daughter Victoria (Image: PA)

Constance Marten and her boyfriend survived by shoplifting and scavenging from bins for the two months they were on the run, a court has heard.

The aristocrat fugitive and her partner are accused of killing their baby Victoria through negligence after going on the run following her birth, which it's alleged was to stop social services from taking her away. The pair sparked a nationwide manhunt in January last year after a placenta was discovered in their burnt out car which was abandoned on a motorway in Greater Manchester.

Now facing trial at the Old Bailey, a jury has heard how they spent weeks living off-grid, camping in the freezing cold. Baby Victoria's body was found by police in a Lidl bag in a disused shed near Brighton.

Marten, 36, who comes from a wealthy family with ties to the royals, met Gordon in 2016 and together they had four children previous to Victoria who were all taken into care. Jurors heard the mother had put on a fake Irish accent, pretending to be a traveller, when giving birth to her first child.

CCTV was shown to the court which the prosecution say shows Marten and Gordon, 49, attempting to break in to Hollingbury Golf Course in Brighton. A woman was seen carrying the Lidl bag for life and using a branch as a walking aid while walking up to the fire exit.

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Tom Little KC, prosecuting, said: "They were both tampering with the door and then Marten uses the branch to attempt to break through the door." After failing to gain access they are seen rummaging through bins outside the golf course, taking some rubbish out and placing it in the bag for life.

CCTV footage of Constance Marten buying supplies at Texaco in Newhaven, which was shown in court during their trial (PA)

Mr Little earlier said the couple were so cold and hungry they were trying to break in to find shelter and scavenging for food from the bins. CCTV from around 8pm showed Marten allegedly attempting to shoplift in a Post Office on Hollingbury Place.

Footage showed a woman entering the shop wearing a big winter coat and face mask. Mr Little said: "Constance Marten enters the Post Office, picks up a tin of food and attempts to put in straight into the pocket of her coat, however it appears to fall straight to the floor. She puts it back and immediately leaves." She then took money from an ATM, buying food in cash.

Witness Dale Cooley told the court he saw a woman outside the convenience store who was approached by a man "carrying a massive stick" with "one foot wrapped in a plastic bag". He said: "I immediately thought this was very strange and thought he looked very out of place. I then thought the male looked familiar and remembered a thing about a missing couple in the news recently."

Footage of Marten and Gordon getting out of a taxi with baby Victoria visible (PA)

Mr Cooley said he then followed the couple, before ringing police to report the sighting. Marten and Gordon were arrested on February 27 on the golf course, with their baby sadly discovered on March 1.

Sergeant Robert Button was one of the officers urgently deployed to the scene to arrest the couple, saying they both smelt "unclean" and "unwashed" when detained, with Marten having what appeared to be furniture stuffing padding out her clothing.

The couple deny the manslaughter of Victoria by gross negligence, concealment of the birth of a child, cruelty to a person under 16, perverting the course of justice by disposing of the body and allowing the death of a child. They both appeared in the dock on Tuesday, with Marten wearing a pink blouse and Gorden in a blue shirt and tie.

Ms Marten's mother Virginie de Selliers and her brother Tobias Marten also attended court. The wealthy family lived at Dorset estate Crichel House during Marten's youth and her grandmother was a playmate of Princess Margaret and goddaughter to the Queen Mother. The trial is set to last six weeks.

Susie Beever