DNTCCC Crime News: Constance Marten denies causing her baby any harm, telling jurors she 'did nothing but show her love'
Constance Marten denies causing her baby any harm, telling jurors she 'did nothing but show her love'
Giving evidence for the first time at the Old Bailey, she told jurors she felt "disbelief, shock and intense grief" after the death of her daughter Victoria.
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon Pic: PA / Greater Manchester Police
Constance Marten has denied causing her baby any harm - telling jurors she did "nothing but show her love".
Marten, who is from a wealthy family, and her partner Mark Gordon, 49, are on trial over the death of their newborn baby daughter Victoria while they were on the run.
Appearing in the witness box for the first time, she told the court she felt "disbelief, shock and intense grief" when she awoke in a tent and realised her baby had died on 9 January last year.
"I had her in my jacket and when I woke up... she wasn't alive," she said in evidence to the Old Bailey today.
Marten said: "We didn't want to accept she had passed away, it was too much to take in," and said she did not seek medical attention "because she definitely wasn't alive".
The 36-year-old told jurors she "said some parting words" before putting her daughter's body in a bag to carry her because they "didn't have anything else" and "toyed with the idea of cremation" after attending an Indian funeral.
Marten wept as she told the court: "At one point Mark said: 'Why don't we jump in with her and call it quits? Let's just all have a fire and say goodbye to life together'. We had just had enough at that point."
Victoria's badly decomposed body was found in a Lidl bag inside a shed on an allotment in Brighton, East Sussex, on 1 March last year, days after the couple were arrested on 27 February.
A nationwide search had been launched after a placenta was found in the couple's burnt-out car by the motorway near Bolton, Greater Manchester, on 5 January 2023.
Prosecutors say the couple went on the run for 54 days, living off-grid in a tent on the South Downs in wintry conditions, because they wanted to keep their baby, as their previous four children had all been taken into care.
CCTV footage of Constance Marten holding baby Victoria. Pic: PA
While the cause of her death is "unascertained", jurors have heard she could have died from the cold or co-sleeping.
"I did nothing but show her love... I gave her the best [care] that anyone would have," Marten said.
"I don't think it's anything I will move on from. I feel guilty because she was in my arms. I feel like it's not an easy thing to live with."
'Very blessed'
The court heard Marten was privately educated before attending Leeds University and took photographs of the Egyptian revolution, as well as working for the news network Al Jazeera as a researcher.
She told jurors that travelling was her "passion" and that she had "been very blessed" after describing trips to India, Nepal, Nigeria, Uganda, Peru and throughout Europe.
Marten said she met Gordon in an Indian shop that sold incense but did not introduce him to her family, who she had broken ties with about two years earlier.
"I didn't want anything to do with them," she said.
The baby was found in this Lidl carrier bag. Pic: Met Police
Marten said she and Gordon became good friends and went travelling to Peru, where they married in an unofficial wedding ceremony.
"Like any relationships we had our ups and downs," she said. "There's a lot of goodness there."
She said they went to Wales while "trying to flee my family" after her grandmother's estate was sold against the wishes of her will, and believed she was being "trailed by private investigators".
Marten said she was cut off "overnight" by her family while she was heavily pregnant with her first child, while her three brothers had houses bought for them.
"They treat me quite differently. I don't think they agree with my marriage and the choices I have made," she said.
Jurors previously heard Marten received nearly £50,000 from a trust fund before going on the run.
She said the care proceedings were "one of the most disgraceful cases". When asked about social services, she replied: "I don't believe they are there to help parents or children."
Marten told the court that she and Gordon had never done anything to harm any of their children, adding: "There's literally nothing I wouldn't do for my children".
She added: "Mark and I love our kids more than anything in the world, so I'm pretty angry they've had to go through this."
Constance Marten during her arrest
'I wanted baby with me'
She told the jury she and Gordon were moving every one to three days while she was pregnant with Victoria "so she would not be taken".
"I wanted Victoria with me for the first three to six months of her life so I could give her the love that she needs because I don't think it's fair for any children to be removed from her parents," she said.
After giving birth in a rented cottage in Northumberland on 24 December 2022, Marten said their plans "disintegrated" when their car "blew up" on 5 January.
"We just acted on impulse and instinct," she said. "What are we going to do to save Victoria?"
Marten denied carrying Victoria in a carrier bag at any time before she died and said they decided to buy a tent in east London so they could "lay low away from prying eyes", but said Victoria's wellbeing was her "primary concern".
'Pride and joy'
She told the jury she planned to provide "parental love, warmth, care, food" and that being "on the move" did not matter as long as she was "provided for".
Marten said she only planned to be in a tent for a day or two, and went to the port town of Newhaven on 8 January to rent a cottage and find someone to smuggle them abroad.
Asked if she was concerned the weather might affect Victoria, she said: "Of course, because she's my baby, I was worried about her all the time.
"If I thought for one second the cold would affect her, it was too cold, or we didn't have enough items to keep her warm we wouldn't have been in that position."
"Obviously it would be preferable to be in a house, that's just common sense, but at no point did I think she's in danger because we took care of her. She was our pride and joy. She was very well protected and looked after."
Prosecutors do not accept the dates Marten says Victoria was born on and when she died.
The defendants, of no fixed address, 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.
The trial continues.
Constance Marten denies causing her baby any harm, telling jurors 'I did nothing but show her love'
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