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The excessive pitched cries of a baby had been heard throughout a stormy evening on the South Downs at in regards to the time a fugitive couple had been allegedly dwelling off grid with their new child daughter, a court docket has heard.
Wealthy aristocrat Constance Marten, 36, and Mark Gordon, 49, are on trial on the Old Bailey accused of the manslaughter of their daughter Victoria.
It is alleged the couple travelled throughout England in taxis and lived in a tent on the South Downs in a bid to maintain the baby, after 4 different youngsters had been taken into care.
They had been arrested in East Sussex final February 27 and, days later, Victoria’s physique was present in a Lidl grocery store bag coated in garbage in a disused shed.
On Monday, Seaford resident Sarah Hidden stated she heard a baby crying in the course of the evening on two consecutive nights final January.
Days later, she was out strolling her canine on a coastal path when she thought she noticed the fugitive couple she had seen on the information.
Giving proof by video hyperlink, Mrs Hidden stated: “A couple of nights before I saw the couple there was the sound of a baby crying. I was asleep but the crying woke me up.”
She stated it appeared to be shifting from the course of a golf course on the South Downs and was “continuous” for about 30 to 40 minutes.
On the primary evening it occurred there was a storm and the climate was windy and wet, she stated.
She advised jurors: “I know people take babies out to get them to sleep but I don’t think they would do it in a storm.”
The subsequent evening she allegedly heard a baby crying once more and it was additionally raining.
Mrs Hidden stated: “It was definitely a young baby crying.
“It’s a different sound to an older baby crying, more constant, a bit more high pitched, urgent sounding.”
Mrs Hidden advised jurors that she noticed the couple on a coastal path a while between final January 16 and 27, when she took her canine for a stroll.
She moved to the aspect to let a giant group of ramblers via, then “bumped into a couple”.
She stated it was “strange”, including: “They could only have appeared out of the bushes further up.
“They were walking alongside each other but they were not talking or looking at each other, but they were together.”
The man was not carrying something whereas the woman “seemed laden down with things”, together with luggage and one thing on her shoulder, Mrs Hidden stated.
“My instinct was it was a small baby, but I did not see a baby. I do not remember seeing a head or legs. It was the position you would hold one but it could have been another bag,” she stated.
Mrs Hidden advised jurors she thought they had been the lacking folks she had seen on the information and did a “double take”.
At the time, she thought they had been within the north of England and solely later determined to contact police after studying there had been sightings in Newhaven in East Sussex.
Mrs Hidden advised jurors the woman “did not look happy” or as if she was a part of the rambler group.
She stated: “She looked really depressed and worn in on herself and down.”
On what she thought the woman was doing, the witness stated: “My immediate instinct was she was holding a baby, it was the way I would hold a baby. I cannot say that was what she was holding because I did not see a baby.”
Prosecutor Tom Little KC requested: “At about this time, when you were on one of your walks with your dog or otherwise, did you see anything else in this area?”
Mrs Hidden replied: “Yes, I saw a tent twice, two different times in two different places. The first time it was in the bushes, the second time was along the Cuckmere river, just off a path.”
The defendants, of no fastened deal with, deny manslaughter by gross negligence between January 4 and February 27 final 12 months.
They are additionally charged with perverting the course of justice, concealing the start of a kid, youngster cruelty and inflicting or permitting the loss of life of a kid.
The trial continues.
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