Latest news with #infantDeath
The Independent
07-07-2025
- The Independent
Jury retires to consider verdict in retrial of Constance Marten and partner over baby death
A jury has retired to consider its verdict in the retrial of aristocrat Constance Marten and her partner over the death of their newborn baby while on the run. The mother, 38, and convicted rapist Mark Gordon, 50, are accused of gross negligence manslaughter or causing or allowing the death of their fifth child, Victoria, who perished as they camped on the South Downs last winter. The prosecution alleges Victoria died from hypothermia or was smothered while co-sleeping in a "flimsy" tent after they took her 'off-grid' in a bid to stop her from being taken into care like their four other children. Victoria's decomposing remains were later found stashed in a rubbish-filled shopping bag in a disused allotment shed. Marten told the Old Bailey she did not know if she 'fell asleep, blacked out or fainted' but woke up slumped over the lifeless infant. Last year, the parents were convicted of concealing the birth of the child and perverting the course of justice in a previous trial. Opening a retrial in March, prosecutor Tom Little KC told the jury Marten is a 'trust fund child' who has 'perfected lying to an art form'. He alleged the parents at times used a red Lidl bag-for-life to carry the newborn as they fled the authorities before her eventual death due to hypothermia or 'grossly negligent co-sleeping'. 'It would have been plain to the defendants, you must have thought, that this was an utterly inappropriate way to care for any child, let alone their child,' adding the infant only had a babygro and no hat in the wintry conditions. By the time they settled in the South Downs on 8 January 2023 in a 'thin and flimsy' tent they were 'sopping wet', he said. Mr Little told the jury: 'They decided to and then started camping in relatively cold and obviously dangerous conditions on the South Downs with (as I have said) totally insufficient and inadequate clothing and equipment for the baby and never once seeking any help or assistance.' Jurors were told that Gordon had been convicted of raping a woman in Florida while armed with a knife and hedge clippers in 1989 when he was aged 14. Within a month, he entered another property and carried out another offence involving 'aggravated battery', the court was told. In February 1994, Gordon received a sentence of 40 years' imprisonment, of which he served 22 years. Gordon, who represented himself for the majority of the retrial, said Victoria's death occurred after he and Marten had been 'hounded and traumatised' and already lost their four other children to the care system. He told the court they had been 'dehumanised' and 'vilified' as he dismissed the prosecution case against them as a 'fantasy'. Tom Godfrey, representing Marten, said her 'greatest fear' was losing Victoria and a high-profile police manhunt only drove them further underground. He said the police appeal to find the baby made 'instant headline news around the country' and the 'country became obsessed'. He told jurors: 'It was from this moment on, Constance Marten and Mark Gordon determined the only way to keep Victoria to themselves was to avoid detection. 'Irrespective of the rights and wrongs, the net effect was to drive Constance Marten and Mark Gordon further underground.' After Victoria's death, they were reduced to a 'state of near derangement', and a 'feeling of hopelessness and guilt', Mr Godfrey said. The parents deny gross negligence manslaughter or causing or allowing the death of their newborn daughter.
The Independent
13-05-2025
- The Independent
Aristocrat Constance Marten refuses to continue cross-examination in trial over baby death
Aristocrat Constance Marten has declined to continue her cross-examination by the prosecution as she stands trial over the death of her newborn baby. Jurors at the Old Bailey were told on Tuesday that the mother, 37, who was due to answer questions from prosecutor Joel Smith KC, had indicated she 'didn't wish to continue' giving evidence. She has previously given her evidence in chief and spent half a day in the witness box responding to questions from her partner and co-defendant Mark Gordon, who decided to represent himself in court after his barristers withdrew. Ms Marten and Mr Gordon, 50, deny gross negligence manslaughter of their daughter Victoria and causing or allowing her death while they were on the run in January 2023. The prosecution alleges Victoria died from hypothermia or was smothered while co-sleeping in a "flimsy" tent after they took her 'off-grid' on the South Downs in a bid to stop her from being taken into care like their four other children. Victoria's decomposing remains were later found stashed in a rubbish-filled shopping bag in a disused allotment shed. Last week she called Mr Smith KC 'diabolical' and 'heartless' as he started the cross-examination for the prosecution, asking her whether leaving Victoria's body in a bag filled with rubbish was a "despicable thing" to do. 'Mr Smith you are diabolical…I find the way you cross examine me really uncouth,' she said. 'You really are a heartless human being.' After he questioned her journalism experience and why she gave fake names at hotels while police were looking for her, she broke down, telling the court she found Mr Smith 'abhorrent' and she was tired of being 'grilled and my character being defamed'. 'I understand that I am being prosecuted but I am just not going to sit here and be spoken to like that,' she added. When jurors returned to court on Tuesday they were told that she had been given special permission to speak to her barrister in the middle of her evidence as she decided whether to continue, but it remained her 'firm view' that she would not return to the witness box. The Recorder of London, Mark Lucraft KC, told the jury: 'I, in due course, will direct you about what consequence that has. 'As you may expect, if somebody doesn't complete their evidence the weight you have to give it should be considered very carefully.' Marten previously told jurors that sheltering in the tent was intended to be a "pit stop" to avoid "prying eyes". She wept as she said that she would "turn back time" if she knew Victoria was in danger, adding that they "spent so long trying to protect her". She described taking Victoria on the run as a 'selfless act', adding: 'Mark and I don't relish being on the move constantly it is a constant upheaval you can't put down roots anywhere…but we did it because we love our daughter so much. It was a parental love, it was a selfless act.' She said she did not know if she 'fell asleep, blacked out or fainted' but woke up slumped over the lifeless infant. Last year, the parents were convicted of concealing the birth of the child and perverting the course of justice in a previous trial. The retrial continues.
The Independent
06-05-2025
- The Independent
Mark Gordon to represent himself in retrial over death of baby with Constance Marten
A father accused of taking his newborn daughter off-grid in winter with aristocrat Constance Marten will represent himself in his retrial over the death of the infant, a court heard. Jurors at the Old Bailey were told on Tuesday that Mark Gordon's previous barrister John Femi-Ola KC and his junior Jodie-Jane Hitchcock had 'withdrawn' from the case and that the defendant has chosen to represent himself. Mr Gordon will submit the questions he wishes to ask during the trial in written form to the judge. Judge Lucraft told the jury to return on Wednesday when Ms Marten is due to continue giving evidence, adding: 'This morning Mr Femi-Ola and Ms Hitchcock are not present in court because they have withdrawn and going forward Mr Gordon has chosen to represent himself, so that means that I am giving him a bit of time this afternoon to work out which questions he's going to ask.' Ms Marten, 37, and Mr Gordon, 50, both deny gross negligence manslaughter and causing or allowing the death of their daughter Victoria in January 2023, whose birth they concealed after their four other children were removed from their care. The prosecution alleges the parents at times used a red Lidl bag-for-life to carry the newborn as they fled the authorities before her eventual death due to hypothermia or 'grossly negligent co-sleeping' as they camped off-grid in the South Downs. The couple were avoiding their fifth child being removed from them amid a high-profile police hunt for the missing baby, with Ms Marten claiming her other children were 'stolen by the state', the Old Bailey previously heard. On Friday, Ms Marten gave evidence and Tom Godfrey – who was the junior barrister in her defence team with Francis FitzGibbon KC as the leading silk – was the one to ask his client questions. Judge Lucraft told jurors at the start of the day's proceedings: 'The eagle-eyed amongst you may notice Mr FitzGibbon is not here and the eagle-eyed will see it is going to be Mr Godfrey who will be asking further questions of Ms Marten going forward. 'Please do not concern yourselves as to the reasons this has happened.' The mother told the jury she woke up to find the newborn limp and pale after falling asleep with her zipped inside her jacket. Asked if she reported Victoria's death, Marten said: 'At that stage no I was just… in the movies, I don't know, accidentally someone dies they panic and they think, oh my gosh… I just thought they were going to say I was some evil mother, a murderess, that sort of thing.' She said she did not trust the police to carry out an investigation after 'such a big media furore around us'. Ms Marten described the situation as the 'worst nightmare that you have ever woke up from'. Victoria's decomposing remains were later found stashed in a rubbish-filled shopping bag in a disused allotment shed. Last year, the parents were convicted of concealing the birth of the child and perverting the course of justice in a previous trial. The retrial continues.
