Constance Marten feels ‘responsible’ for death of her baby while on the run, court told

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Aristocrat Constance Marten told jurors she feels “responsible” for “falling asleep” on her new child while dwelling in a tent on the run with Mark Gordon.

The 36-year-old mother-of-five, who denies gross negligence manslaughter of her daughter Victoria, told the Old Bailey the baby was her “pride and joy”.

The toddler died while the couple had been dwelling off-grid in a tent in wintry situations after going on the run to cease her from being taken into care like her 4 older siblings.

The prosecution alleges the couple’s “reckless and totally egocentric” behaviour led to the “entirely avoidable” death of the new child.

But the mom told the court Victoria, who she delivered unaided in an Airbnb on Christmas Eve 2022, died after she fell asleep with her zipped inside her jacket on 9 January final 12 months. 

Giving proof for a second day on Friday, she told the jury she believes she could have fallen asleep on the teenager after they pitched a tent in Newhaven to “lay low”.

“I do feel responsible for falling asleep on her if that’s what happened. I’m not sure because the autopsy was inconclusive but I do feel responsible for her.”

Answering questions from her barrister Francis Fitzgibbon KC, the mom stated she and Gordon stayed put in Newhaven for a number of days in the wake of the death, till the pair travelled to Brighton on 12 January with Victoria’s stays in a Lidl service bag.

She stated they had been in a “state of grief and fear” and he or she thought of handing herself in, however feared she could be blamed for the toddler’s death.

She defined she had beforehand examine different mother and father who had been wrongly jailed for their baby’s death throughout household court proceedings over her 4 different youngsters. 

“I was too scared to take that risk because I knew that with all the press coverage I felt that people wanted something negative to have happened and they wouldn’t believe the truth,” she told the court.

Marten, who was carrying a white floral shirt and darkish trousers, stated Gordon turned “anorexically thin” and “very unwell” in the weeks that adopted after they stopped venturing into retailers for meals amid fears they might be caught.

They left Victoria’s physique in the tent a pair of instances however often carried her with them, disguising themselves with glasses and a cap, the court was told.

But they had been lastly arrested on 27 February after they had been noticed buying meals and taking out money from a store in Brighton.

The toddler’s stays had been finally discovered a number of days later in a Lidl procuring bag in a disused shed, coated in garbage.

Asked why she didn’t inform police what had occurred to Victoria immediately, she replied: “I was terrified. Scared of this happening – what’s happening now…being on trial.”

She stated she didn’t need them to search out her stays, which the couple had left in the allotment shed the place they’d been sleeping after they’d been “number one” in the information for so lengthy.

Under cross-examination, the mom insisted she gave her daughter the greatest stage of care and told the court that “accidents happen”.

“I showed my baby the maximum amount of love that I had to give,” she told prosecutor Joel Smith.

“Mr Smith, in life, accidents happen and they are tragic but it’s not something I could have foreseen in any way, shape or form.”

Facing questions over whether or not it was protected to lift a new child in a tent in winter, she argued the court was the difficulty from a “Western perspective” – citing youngsters in Mongolia, youngsters dwelling in igloos and refugees elevating infants in Calais.

She additionally claimed that her two oldest youngsters suffered abuse after being taken into care and {that a} household court was mistaken to take them away, including: “I think it is a very, very corrupt system.”

Mr Smith asserted that Marten and Gordon went underground with baby Victoria as a result of she thought social companies had been mistaken.

He requested: “Has it occurred to you that they were right?”

Marten replied: “Victoria would be alive if it were not for them. I’m not saying they are to blame for her death. I’m saying we were in a very unfortunate position.”

Mr Smith went on: “Has it occurred to you in trying to prove them wrong you proved them more right than ever?”

The defendant replied: “I wasn’t trying to prove them wrong I was trying to bring her up with the love that she deserves with her parents.”

She additionally claimed she put on a pretend Irish accent and gave delivery to her first baby beneath a false id as a result of she was making an attempt to flee her “bigoted” household.

“I had to escape my family because my family are extremely oppressive and bigoted and they wouldn’t allow me to have children with my husband and would do anything to erase the child from the family line,” she told the court.

It is the second day of proof from Marten, who yesterday insisted she had proven baby Victoria “nothing but love” and choked again tears as she relived the second she awoke to search out Victoria lifeless inside her coat as they camped on the South Downs.

She told the court she and Gordon acted on “impulse and instinct” after their automotive caught fireplace on 5 January and travelled the nation by taxi – fearing her household was utilizing personal investigators to path them. Eventually they purchased a tent and took a taxi to the port at Newhaven to “lay low away from prying eyes” amid a high-profile police enchantment to search out them, she told the jury.

The couple each deny gross negligence manslaughter of their daughter Victoria between 4 January and 27 February final 12 months.

They additionally deny fees of perverting the course of justice by concealing the physique, together with concealing the delivery of a toddler, baby cruelty, and permitting the death of a toddler.

The trial continues.