Constance Marten - latest updates: Aristocrat accused of killing newborn baby back in court

Jurors are expected to retire in the couple’s Old Bailey trial later this week

(PA)

Aristocrat Constance Marten is returning to court on Monday as the trial into the death of her newborn baby enters its final days.

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.

The couple had gone on the run in a bid to keep their baby, after four previous children were taken into care. Following their arrest almost two months later, Victoria’s badly decomposed remains were found in a Lidl shopping bag in an allotment shed.

During her evidence, Marten told jurors she had intended to find someone to smuggle them abroad illegally, and claimed her daughter had died in her arms on 9 January after falling asleep in her jacket.

The couple deny charges of gross negligence manslaughter of Victoria between 4 January and 27 February last year, charges of perverting the course of justice by concealing the body, along with concealing the birth of a child, child cruelty, and allowing the death of a child.

The trial continues.

[8 April 2024 09:36 · Holly Evans]

Welcome to our live coverage

Welcome to our live coverage as the Old Bailey trial against Constance Marten and Mark Gordon is set to conclude this week.

We’ll be bringing you all the latest updates here.

[8 April 2024 10:34 · Holly Evans]

What did the court hear last time?

Ahead of an Easter break, jurors heard evidence from Professor Peter Fleming, an expert on infant health.

Considering the circumstances of how baby Victoria died, he told the court: “I have seen no evidence of hypothermia as a cause of death but the description of how the baby was being cared for would make hypothermia exceedingly unlikely.”

He added that the length of Victoria’s feet were “most compatible” with death occurring at the age of two to three weeks.

Prof Fleming said Marten’s description had been “extraordinarily consistent”, saying: “My assumption is she is telling the truth unless there is evidence she is not.”

[8 April 2024 10:48 · Holly Evans]

We are ending our live coverage

We are ending our live coverage of this event, as the trial of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon will not be sitting today due to a juror absence.

We will continue bringing you all the latest updates tomorrow.