Constance Marten trial - latest: Judge summing up evidence as court case over baby death enters final stages
Marten and Gordon are accused of gross negligence manslaghter of the newborn
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The judge is summing up the evidence as the trial of aristocrat Constance Marten and her partner Mark Gordon over the death of their baby enters its final stages.
The couple is accused of gross negligence manslaughter of the newborn, whom they took off-grid to stop her from being taken into care like their four other children.
The Recorder of London, Judge Mark Lucraft KC, began summing up the evidence to the jury at the Old Bailey on Thursday. Evidence recapped so far includes eyewitness Ken Hudson, who stopped to help the couple when their car caught fire on the M61 near Bolton on 5 January.
Mr Hudson previously told the court he fears baby Victoria would still be alive if he had stayed at the roadside with the parents until police arrived. But the pair fled with baby Victoria after he pulled away, leaving their burning car at the roadside along with most of their possessions.
Police later found £2000 in cash, Marten’s passport, 34 burner phones and a placenta wrapped in a towel in the burnt-out vehicle.
Marten, 36, and Gordon, 49, both deny the charges of gross negligence manslaughter of Victoria between 4 January and 27 February last year. They also deny charges of perverting the course of justice by concealing the body, concealing the birth of a child, child cruelty, and allowing the death of a child.
The trial continues.
Defence describes Marten as a “lioness” with deep love for her children
Now the prosecution has ended its closing speeches, it’s the turn of the defence with John Femi-Ola KC – for Gordon – going first.
He characterised Marten as a lioness whose love for her children “overflowed”.
He admitted the pair may be described as an “unlikely couple” but challenged the prosecution’s description of Marten in their opening as “callous”.
He said the mother was a “headstrong woman” who was “steadfast” under cross examination and resolute in her “deep, deep love” for her children.
“As you watched and listened to her you may think that she’s a lioness,” he said, later referring to her children as her “cubs”.
Baby Victoria died of hypothermia, prosecution claims
Concluding his case, Mr Little invited the jury to find the parents guilty of gross negligence manslaughter.
He said the prosecution’s primary case is that Victoria died as result of hypothermia.
He insisted Marten and Gordon’s four other children had been lawfully taken into care by a family court judge, adding: “What happened on the South Downs proves that judge right on the conduct of those parents.”
He later added: “She didn’t have enough clothing to keep herself warm and baby Victoria died as a result.”
Prosecution claims Marten lied about the date of baby’s death
Mr Little claims that Marten had lied about the date of baby Victoria’s death.
He reminded the jury of evidence from a witness who claimed she saw the couple on a coastal path near her home in Seaford, East Sussex, between 16 and 27 January.
The same witness claimed she had heard a baby crying overnight a few days earlier.
This is at odds with the couple’s version of events – in which they allege Victoria died on 9 January and they never travelled to Seaford.
“Not only has Marten lied on practically every issue in this case but she has lied about going to Seaford and about the date of death,” he told the jury
Baby Victoria was carried in a Lidl bag when she was still alive - prosecution
Mr Little urges the jury not to “fall” for the defendant’s claims that they never carried the infant in a shopping bag.
He reminded the jury of two CCTV clips in which the prosecution claims Victoria must have been concealed in the bag.
This includes the moment the couple arrived in Newhaven on 8 January last year when they were captured carrying bags.
“We suggest that the baby is in the bag for life, covered just as it had been earlier,” he told the court.
Victoria’s decomposed remains were eventually found in the shopping bag by police in a disused shed.
Marten accused of ‘fantastical’ claims about ‘Mission Impossible style’ private investigators
Lead prosecutor Tom Little KC says Marten’s claims that she and Gordon were being trailed by private investigators – including fears they had tampered with their car – were “fantastical”.
“The idea that in 2022 and 2023 there was some Mission Impossible style private investigators coming out of the sky from nowhere to detonate vehicles. It’s fantastical. It’s mythical. It didn’t happen,” he told the court.
“Because we know from agreed facts that there were no private investigators in 2022 or 2023.”
The court previously heard that Marten’s mother had instructed investigators for two weeks in 2016.
Meanwhile her father told police he had hired investigators to find her in 2017 and 2021.
However both deny any private investigator was instructed to find her in 2022 or in 2023 – when the couple was on the run.
Prosecution suggests Marten has an ‘upstairs downstairs’ mentality
Resuming his closing speech, lead prosecutor Tom Little KC tells the jury that questions remain about when baby Victoria was born.
Marten insists she delivered the child unaided in a holiday cottage on Christmas Eve in 2022.
But Mr Little said the infant was not seen by a single witness until 5 January, when van driver Ken Hudson stopped to help after the couple’s car caught fire on the M61, near Bolton.
Mr Hudson told police he had briefly touched Victoria’s head after Marten escaped the burning car, saying words to the effect of “God bless, stay safe”.
Marten denied this in evidence, saying she would never let a “random workman” touch her child.
Mr Little told the jury on Tuesday that this language suggests to him an “upstairs, downstairs mentality” from Marten.
Marten is in the dock wearing a pink blouse alongside Gordon, wearing a blue shirt and tie.
Proceedings today have just started
We’ll bring you updates as we get them from our crime correspondent Amy-Clare Martin at the Old Bailey
What we expect to happen today
Lead prosecutor Tom Little KC will continue his closing speech for the crown, started yesterday, before lawyers representing Constance Marten and Mark Gordon will begin to provide their own closing remarks on the defence evidence provided to the jury.
Marten, 36, and Gordon, 49, both deny gross negligence manslaughter of the newborn, whom they took off-grid to stop her from being taken into care like their four other children.
What happened yesterday
Yesterday, lead prosecutor Tom Little KC started his closing speech for the crown as he accused Constance Marten and Mark Gordon of manslaughter in the death of their baby Victoria.
He told jurors that Marten had told “big fat lies” to the court over the death of her child, who was found a rubbish-filled carrier bag after the couple spent 53 days on the run.
In his closing submissions to the jury, prosecutor Tom Little insisted Marten was an “utterly unreliable witness”.
“Lies fell from her mouth like confetti in the wind as she gave evidence,” he said.
He also said Gordon’s silence during the trial was “deafening” after Gordon opted not to give evidence in his own defence. The prosecutor claimed Gordon “didn’t dare” enter the witness box because he did not want to face cross-examination.
Marten, 36, and Gordon, 49, both deny gross negligence manslaughter of the newborn.
Read more:
Constance Marten’s tragic baby ‘caught in middle of parents’ toxic relationship’
Mother accused of telling ‘big fat lies’ over death of daughter Victoria, whose body was found in a rubbish-filled carrier bag
Good morning
We are restarting live updates on this blog with Constance Marten and Mark Gordon due back at the Old Bailey for the recommencing of the manslaughter trial at 9.30am.
Today, lead prosecutor Tom Little KC will continue his closing speech as the crown concludes its case to the jury.