The high-profile trial of aristocratic runaway Constance Marten and her partner Mark Gordon has gripped the Old Bailey, with prosecutors detailing a harrowing sequence of events that allegedly led to their newborn daughter's death.
The couple, who evaded police for 54 days during a bitter winter, now face charges of manslaughter by gross negligence, cruelty to a person under 16, concealing the birth of a child, and perverting the course of justice.
A Winter Flight Ends in Tragedy
Prosecutor Tom Little KC painted a devastating picture of the couple's actions, describing how they chose to 'prioritise their own lives' over their vulnerable infant's welfare. The court heard how they embarked on a cross-country journey, living off-grid in a tent on the South Downs during some of the year's coldest months.
'They decided that they knew best and were not going to allow what they regarded as officious social workers to interfere with the way they were going to raise their baby,' Little told jurors. This decision, he argued, had 'catastrophic and tragic' consequences.
The Desperate Search
The nationwide manhunt began after their car burst into flames on the M61 motorway near Bolton last January. Rather than seek help, the couple fled, purchasing camping equipment and disappearing into the countryside.
Police finally apprehended the pair in Brighton on February 27th, but tragically, their baby daughter Victoria was already dead. Her body was discovered days later in a Lidl supermarket bag inside a disused shed, wrapped in a soiled blanket.
A Pattern of Avoidance
The court learned that this was not the couple's first child to be taken into care. Four previous children had been removed by authorities, creating what prosecutors described as a pattern of avoiding official intervention at all costs.
Marten, 36, who comes from a wealthy aristocratic family, and Gordon, 49, a convicted sex offender, both deny all charges. The trial continues as the jury hears evidence about the circumstances that led to this tragic outcome.
