08 March 2024 , 20:49
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Mum Constance Marten has told jurors she “feels responsible” over the death of her baby daughter.
The aristocrat, 36, and her partner Mark Gordon, 49, are on trial after baby Victoria died while they were camping on the South Downs in wintry conditions last year.
The pair both deny manslaughter by gross negligence, perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child, child cruelty and causing or allowing the death of a child
Giving evidence on Friday, Marten told jurors: “She was our pride and joy. I had four kids. I know how to look after children. Our primary concern was Victoria.
“I do feel responsible for falling asleep on her if that’s what happened. I’m not sure because the autopsy was inconclusive but I do feel responsible for her.”
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Artist's impression of Constance Marten giving evidence at the Old Bailey on Fridfay (Julia Quenzler / SWNS)Cross-examining, prosecutor Joel Smith repeatedly asked Marten if she accepted that taking her newborn baby to live in a tent in the winter was a “very bad idea”. Marten said: “Obviously being in a house would be better than being in a tent.”
Mr Smith said: “Can you see that bringing your newborn child into a tent in the middle of winter with no heating and hot water, can you see that was a very bad decision?” Marten replied: “You are looking at it from a very Western perspective. There are kids who live in igloos.”
She added: “It was the only decision I had at the time. She was well cared for and well loved.” Asked if she regretted the decision now, she said: “I regret falling asleep in the way I did.”
Constance Marten's barrister Francis Fitzgibbon KC, asked her 'How did you think this was all going to end?' (Julia Quenzler / SWNS)Jurors have heard how the couple went on the run from authorities in a bid to keep their baby after their four other children were taken into care. They abandoned their car after it burst into flames near Bolton, Greater Manchester last January 5 and were finally arrested in Brighton last February 27.
The couple had refused to answer officers’ urgent questions about where their baby was and whether she was alive or dead. Her remains were found by police in a Lidl bag inside a shed on a nearby allotment on March 1 2023.
Mr Smith asserted that Marten went underground with her baby because she thought social services were wrong. He asked: “Has it occurred to you that they were right?”
Marten replied: “Victoria would be alive if it were not for them. I’m not saying they are to blame for her death. I’m saying we were in a very unfortunate position.” The defendant was asked about the circumstances in which she had her first child.
Marten told jurors her family was “extremely oppressive and bigoted”, would not allow her to have a child with her husband and would do anything to “erase the child from the family line”. Mr Smith went on: “Has it occurred to you in trying to prove them (social services) wrong you proved them more right than ever?”
The defendant denied she was trying to prove anyone wrong. Earlier on Friday, Marten told jurors how she and Gordon “lay low” and wanted to “hide away from people” in the days after Victoria died and were reduced to rummaging in bins for food.
They left Victoria in the tent a couple of times when they ventured out but usually carried her with them, disguising themselves with glasses and a cap, the court was told. They narrowly avoided arrest on one occasion when they ate sandwiches on Brighton beach with Victoria’s body.
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She said: “We had walked to Brighton once with her body and went to the beach two-and-a-half weeks before being arrested. Someone noticed us on the beach, police cars started coming to the beach. We, by hook or by crook, got back to the park undetected. We stopped going out. Mark got extremely thin.”
Soon after, they stopped going into Brighton because they were “just too scared” and Gordon began looking anorexic, she said. Defence barrister Francis FitzGibbon KC asked: “How did you think this was all going to end?”
Marten replied: “I don’t think I was really thinking to be honest. We were in a heightened state of grief and fear. I kept toying with handing myself in.” The defendant was asked about CCTV footage showing her and Gordon rummaging in bins for food at Collingwood Golf Club.
Marten went on: “I realised we could not live like this. It was not sustainable. We were sharing one piece of bread out of the bin. t was not sustainable so I said to Mark we are just going to have to try to get some money out.
“I said ‘Baby, you are not in a good state, neither am I. We have got to get some food, get blood sugar up and figure out what we are going to do. My blood sugar was very low. Mark was hobbling with a stick. He had ripped the end of one of his toes off. It was getting infected. He was in a bad way.”
Under cross-examination by Gordon’s lawyer John Femi-Ola KC, Marten said that for the first three days after Victoria’s death she was “overwhelmed” and spent time just holding on to her. She did not go out again until January 12 when she was picked up by CCTV buying snacks at a Texaco garage.
On Thursday, Marten described how Victoria was born at a rental cottage on Christmas Eve 2022 and died last January 9. She told jurors her children meant the world to her and she had done nothing to Victoria “but show her love”. The defendants, of no fixed address, deny all charges.