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.
Prosecution claims Marten told ‘big fat lies’
Mr Little KC accused Marten of “grandstanding on a premier league level” in the witness box.
“Perhaps most gratuitously on her part throwing everyone outrageously under the bus apart from her and her wonderful husband,” he said.
“Everyone is evil and bad apart from her and Mr Gordon in Constance Marten land.”
He told the jury this afternoon he will address a “big fat lies” told by Marten.
“After the break I will deal with what I call a number of big fat lies told by Constance Marten. They are not white lies, they are not fibs,” he told the court.
“They are demonstrable lies that go to the core of the issues in this case.”
Mark Gordon’s silence during trial was ‘deafening’, court told
The prosecutor claimed Mark Gordon “didn’t dare” give evidence because he did not want to face cross examination.
“His silence was, we say, deafening in this case,” Mr Little told the jury.
Referring to Gordon’s police interviews, which were played to the jury at the start of the trial, he said: “I lost count of the number of times that he told the police that he would leave his version of you and you alone…
“And when his time came to tell you, his jury, what had happened he said absolutely nothing. Nothing. Zip. Nada. Nothing about the death of his own daughter.”
Baby Victoria was caught in the middle of a ‘toxic relationship’, court told
Mr Little KC tells a packed courtroom that baby Victoria was neglected amid her parent’s ‘toxic relationship’.
Marten, 36, is wearing a white blouse and a plum scarf in the dock alongside Gordon, 49, wearing a blue shirt and navy tie.
Mr Little continued: “This was on the evidence, we say, a self-absorbed relationship between two selfish and arrogant individuals and caught in the middle of that toxic relationship was a baby who was manifestly not cared for properly.
“She was neglected and was exposed to dangerous conditions. A freezing cold baby girl with just – we say – a single baby grow and one vest. No hat. A hat is never seen, a hat has never been found.”
Marten is an ‘utterly unreliable’ witness, prosecutor tells jury
We’re in today’s hearing and just hearing the start of the closing remarks of prosecutor Tom Little KC.
He tells the jury he will reveal “the lies, inconsistencies and fabrications that lie at the heart of the shadow and sham defences” put forward during the trial.
Referring to Constance Marten’s evidence, he told the Old Bailey: “Lies fell from her mouth like confetti in the wind as she gave evidence.
“We suggest that the notion that she is a reliable, let alone honest, witness is risible.
“Her evidence comes with a monumental health warning. She was and is an utterly unreliable witness.”
Constance Marten had ‘broken ties’ with family, court told
Giving evidence, Constance Marten told the court she had broken ties with her family several years earlier amid fears she and co-accused Mark Gordon were being “trailed by private investigators very heavily”.
When police searched the couple’s burnt out car in January 2023 – which they abandoned after it caught fire on the M61 near Bolton – officers found 34 burner phones which Marten told the jury she was using because she was worried her phones and emails were being “hacked”.
Last week, the jury heard how Marten’s parents told police that no private investigators were trailing their daughter when she went on the run with Gordon.
Marten, 36, and Gordon, 49, both deny gross negligence manslaughter of their newborn daughter who died after they fled to stop the baby being taken into care like their four other children.
Constance Marten feels ‘responsible’ for death of her baby, court told
Earlier in the trial, Constance Marten told jurors she felt “responsible” for “falling asleep” on her newborn while living in a tent on the run with Mark Gordon.
The 36-year-old mother-of-five, who denies gross negligence manslaughter of her daughter Victoria, told the Old Bailey the baby was her “pride and joy”.
Giving evidence, she said she believes she may have fallen asleep on the youngster after they pitched a tent in Newhaven to “lay low”.
“She was our pride and joy. I had four kids. I know how to look after children. Our primary concern was Victoria,” she told the court.
“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.”
Constance Marten feels ‘responsible’ for death of her baby, court told
Marten insisted she and Mark Gordon gave their daughter the best level of care and told the court ‘accidents happen’
The moment police ask Constance Marten ‘where is your child'
The jury in the trial have previously been shown a video of Constance Marten’s arrest in Brighton.
It shows a police officer identifying her with the use of a picture on a mobile phone, as another asks ‘where is your child’.
The baby’s remains were found in a disused shed, hidden by a plastic bag and covered in rubbish “as if she was refuse”, the prosecution told the court.
Today we are expecting the prosecution to sum up its evidence in the case before the jury retires to consider its verdict.
Marten, 36, and Mark Gordon, 49, both deny gross negligence manslaughter of their newborn daughter
Watch: Police ask Constance Marten ‘where is your child?’ during arrest
Police repeatedly asked Constance Marten "where is your child" in a video of her arrest in Brighton shown to jurors at the Old Bailey on Tuesday (6 February). The aristocrat, 36, and Mark Gordon, 39, were arrested on suspicion of child neglect on 27 February 2023 after going on the run. The couple had allegedly been living with their newborn baby off-grid in a tent on the South Downs for weeks. Marten and Gordon deny gross negligence manslaughter of their newborn daughter. The baby's remains were found in a disused shed, hidden by a plastic bag and covered in rubbish “as if she was refuse”, the prosecution told the court. The trial continues.
Reminder of the charges faced
Constance Marten, 36, and Mark Gordon, 49, both deny gross negligence manslaughter of their newborn daughter who died after they fled to stop the baby being taken into care like their four other children.
The prosecution alleges the couple’s “reckless and utterly selfish” behaviour led to the “entirely avoidable” death of the newborn as they camped in wintry conditions.
Marten has previously told the court how she fell asleep with the infant, named Victoria, zipped inside her jacket as they camped off-grid in the South Downs last January but awoke to find her dead.
Constance Marten’s parents deny private investigators were trailing her when she went on the run
Last week, jurors heard how Constance Marten’s parents told police that no private investigators were trailing their daughter when she went on the run with Mark Gordon.
The court heard that Marten’s mother employed a private investigator for two weeks in October 2016 because she was worried about her daughter.
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 she went on the run with Gordon and their newborn baby Victoria.
Constance Marten’s parents deny investigators were trailing her when on the run
The parents told police they had not hired anyone to find the aristocrat and her partner Mark Gordon when they fled with their baby
Good morning
We’re restarting updates on our blog this morning as we expectthe prosecution to begin summing up its evidence today in its case against Constance Marten and Mark Gordon.
Marten, 36, and her partner Mark Gordon, 49, have been accused of manslaughter after their daughter Victoria died while they were camping on the South Downs in sub-zero temperatures last January.
We’ll bring you the latest from the Old Bailey.