Constance Marten retorts ‘Jesus survived in a barn’ in defence of living in a tent with tragic newborn

For free actual time breaking information alerts despatched straight to your inbox signal as much as our breaking information emails

Sign as much as our free breaking information emails

An aristocrat accused of killing her child has defended living off-grid whereas on the run with her newborn, telling jurors: “Jesus survived in a barn, didn’t he?”.

Constance Marten, 36, and her accomplice, Mark Gordon, 49, are on trial after child Victoria died whereas they had been tenting on the South Downs in wintry situations final yr.

While being cross-examined on the Old Bailey, she argued their interval living in a tent on the South Downs was being checked out from a “Western perspective”, including that Bedouin households stroll by means of chilly deserts with kids whereas others reside in shanty cities.

Marten grew to become tearful when questioned if she was answerable for her child’s demise, replying: “I think to a degree of course, I feel responsible as her mum for her death but at the same time I have to love and forgive myself because it was a really awful set of circumstances but I didn’t mean to fall asleep.

“I live with that sadness because she died in my arms.”

Giving proof for the fourth day, she strongly rejected the prosecution’s “ridiculous” suggestion that she had carried her daughter in a Lidl “bag for life” when she was alive.

“This whole line of reasoning is absurd, that she is alive in the bag,” she mentioned. “If I’d done that she would have been screaming, people would have noticed. I’m not going to put her alive in a Lidl bag, I’m sorry it is absurd.”

Victoria’s stays had been discovered in a crimson Lidl bag inside a shed on an allotment shed on 1 March 2023, a few days after her dad and mom had been caught and arrested by the police.

Marten additionally grew to become agitated when requested about a teddy bear babygrow Victoria was sporting in CCTV footage from east London which was later amongst objects recovered with her “dumped” physique.

She insisted Victoria was not “dumped” however had been “placed” in the Lidl bag, telling jurors: “It’s awful, I know.

“The only thing I can say, if someone passes away the immediate reaction is panic. Mark and I were not in a good place. We were in fear and grief.

“She was not dumped anywhere. She was with us the whole time.”

Throughout the day, she was repeatedly questioned about their resolution to camp in a tent in sub-zero temperatures with few possessions.

She careworn: “We were not looking to live in a tent. We were acting on instinct. She was our number one priority. We were living in a tent for Victoria.

“A mother’s love for her child is incredibly strong,” she continued. “There was no way I was going to part with my child. We were hiding from the entire British public because I was worried about Victoria being taken.”

The couple had bought a tent from Argos shortly after the primary police media appeals started to emerge requesting for info on their whereabouts.

Jurors have heard that Gordon and Marten went on the run from authorities in a bid to maintain their child after their 4 different kids had been taken into care, and that they’d hid her being pregnant.

Giving her reasoning, she mentioned that social providers had “stolen” her kids, and claimed two of her kids had been spat on and bodily abused after being taken into care.

“I would do anything to protect my child to prevent her being taken by the system that’s abhorrent, yeah,” she mentioned.

She additionally took goal at her household, accusing them of involvement in the removing of her kids: “I have had a very privileged upbringing but my family are used to getting what they want and they won’t stop until they get it.”

She added: “I’m not passing blame on anyone but my family have a huge responsibility in this.”

While accepting that the tent had no heating, sizzling water or electrical energy, Marten insisted that “people around the world live in conditions like that”.

The rich aristocrat advised jurors: “I have grown up with luxury, I have been blessed in that respect. I like feathered duvets and comfort but I would do anything for my baby. Anything.

“So it was an easy decision to make. I would rather be in a plush bed in a palace. I would rather be in a nice big bed.”

However, she careworn that the choice to reside in a tent was solely meant to be for a “pit stop” till they discovered someplace to reside in the countryside.

Jurors had been proven CCTV of Marten carrying Victoria beneath her zipped-up jacket in east London on 7 January, the place she appeared to regulate the newborn after she slipped down in her arms.

Asked if that was an applicable technique to carry a newborn child, mother-of-five Marten mentioned she had “always” performed it with her kids.

After transferring between numerous lodges and Airbnbs, the couple deserted many of their belongings after their automobile burst into flames close to Bolton, Greater Manchester, final January 5, which alerted them to the police.

When they had been lastly arrested in Brighton final 27 February, they’d refused to reply officers’ pressing questions on the place their child was and whether or not she was alive or lifeless.

The defendants, of no fastened tackle, deny manslaughter by gross negligence, perverting the course of justice, concealing the delivery of a baby, baby cruelty and inflicting or permitting the demise of a baby.

The Old Bailey trial continues.