I had to escape oppressive and bigoted family, Constance Marten tells court
Constance Marten has insisted she had to escape because of her “oppressive and bigoted family”, a court heard.
She and her partner Mark Gordon, 49, are accused of manslaughter by gross negligence following the death of her child, Victoria.
During cross examination at the Old Bailey Ms Marten, 36, said: “I had to escape my family as my family are extremely oppressive and bigoted and they would not allow me to have children with my husband and they would do anything to erase that child from the family line.”
On Thursday Ms Marten told the court that she came from a wealthy family. She said her three brothers had houses bought for them by the family trust.
She also defended the decision to sleep in a tent with her baby, saying: “It was the only decision I had at the time and she was well cared for and well loved.”
04:35 PM GMT
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04:10 PM GMT
Marten had not visited children when in care
Mr Smith next asked Ms Marten why she and Mr Gordon had not visited their children when they were in care between October 2021 and January 2022.
She replied: “We had very positive contacts with our children for almost two years.”
But reading from one of the social services reports, Mr Smith said the couple had a “long history of inconsistent attendance”.
He said the reports suggested there had been a “huge number of contact sessions that were missed without explanation”.
The case was adjourned until 11am on Monday when the cross examination will continue.
03:57 PM GMT
Maretn told leaving her baby at hospital would be ‘child abandonement’
Mr Smith asked Ms Marten about the birth of one of her children in 2021 at a hospital in south east London.
The jury heard that shortly after the birth there was a family court hearing regarding one of her other children that she wanted to attend.
Mr Smith said despite being told if she left her baby at the hospital it would be classed as “child abandonment” she went anyway.
Ms Marten replied: “I was looking at the greater good of getting my other children back..it wasn’t an easy decision.”
The court heard when she returned to the hospital the following day she was not allowed onto the ward because she refused to take a Covid test.
03:27 PM GMT
Marten would have preferred child to go to social services
Ms Marten told the jury: “If I knew what was going to happen I would have preferred my child to go to social services.”
Asked about why she had given a false name to the hospital when she gave birth to her first child in 2017, she said: “I had to escape my family as my family are extremely oppressive and bigoted and they would not allow me to have children with my husband and they would do anything to erase that child from the family line.”
On Thursday Ms Marten told the court that she came from a wealthy family. She said her three brothers had houses bought for them by the family trust.
But Mr Smith said she had also been offered a house in early 2017 but had declined it just before contracts were due to be exchanged.
He said at the time she had claimed this was “due to a progression in her career”.
Ms Marten explained that she had wanted to move to the countryside and therefore could no longer live in London.
But she said her family had not wanted to buy her a house while she was in a relationship with Mr Gordon.
03:06 PM GMT
Baby could have died anywhere
Asked if she had any regrets about her actions, Ms Marten replied: “I regret falling asleep in the way I did.”
Mr Smith suggested her daughter had died because of her decision to take her into a tent in the depths of winter.
Ms Gordon replied: “She died because I fell asleep and that could have been anywhere.”
02:55 PM GMT
Refugees in Calais live in tents and don’t die, says Marten
When pressed further about her decision to take a newborn baby into a tent in the middle of winter, Ms Marten replied: “I have worked around the world with children. Just look at France in Calais, there are refugees who are living in tents and their children do not die.
“It was the only decision I had at the time and she was well cared for and well loved.”
Ms Marten said she acted the way she did because she could not take the risk of allowing her child to be taken into care.
02:49 PM GMT
Marten defends sleeping in tent with baby
Mr Smith repeatedly asked Ms Marten if she thought taking her baby into a tent was a good idea, where her baby then died.
She responded: “Obviously being in a house would have been better than being in a tent.”
Pressed on whether it was a good idea to take her newborn baby into a tent, Ms Marten said: “We are looking at this from a Western perspective.
“There are people around the world who live in tents, there are children who live in igloos as long as you give them warmth and love and food… I would have preferred not to be in a tent.”
02:38 PM GMT
I showed my babies maximum love, says Marten
Ms Marten has started being cross-examined by the prosecution barrister, Joel Smith, about the evidence she gave earlier.
Mr Smith began by asking her if she stood by her assertion that she had given her daughter the best care anyone could?
She replied: “I showed my babies the maximum amount of love that I had to give.”
02:18 PM GMT
Marten cross examination to commence
Constance Marten is about to be cross examined following a brief break for lunch.
01:41 PM GMT
Death of Victoria
On Thursday, Marten described how Victoria was born at a rental cottage on Christmas Eve 2022 and died last January 9.
On how Victoria died, she said: “I had her in my jacket and when I woke up my head was on the floor. And when I was sitting up and when I woke up she was not alive.”
She told jurors her children meant the world to her and she had done nothing to Victoria “but show her love”.
The defendants, of no fixed address, deny manslaughter by gross negligence, perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child, child cruelty and causing or allowing the death of a child.
01:40 PM GMT
Marten and Gordon ‘lay low’ during manhunt
On Friday morning, Marten told jurors how she and Gordon “lay low” and wanted to “hide away from people” in the days after Victoria died and were reduced to rummaging in bins for food.
They left Victoria in the tent a couple of times when they ventured out but usually carried her with them, disguising themselves with glasses and a cap, the court was told.
They narrowly avoided arrest on one occasion when they ate sandwiches on Brighton beach with Victoria’s body.
She said: “We had walked to Brighton once with her body and went to the beach two-and-a-half weeks before being arrested.
“Someone noticed us on the beach, police cars started coming to the beach. We, by hook or by crook, got back to the park undetected. We stopped going out. Mark got extremely thin.”
01:39 PM GMT
Recap
Jurors have heard how the couple went on the run from authorities to keep their baby after their four other children were taken into care.
They abandoned their car after it burst into flames near Bolton, Greater Manchester, last January 5 and were finally arrested in Brighton on February 27 2023.
The couple had refused to answer officers’ urgent questions about where their baby was and whether she was alive or dead.
Her remains were found by police in a Lidl bag inside a shed on a nearby allotment on March 1 2023.
01:08 PM GMT
Hearing breaks for lunch
The hearing has now adjourned for lunch and prosecution cross-examination is due to begin at 2pm.
01:07 PM GMT
Marten unable to hold body of baby after death
During a brief cross-examination by John Femi-Ola KC, the counsel for Mr Gordon, Ms Marten explained that after her baby’s death on Jan 9, she was unable to leave the tent for the next three days and spent most of the time holding her body.
12:02 PM GMT
Marten concludes evidence
Ms Marten has now concluded giving evidence in chief and the court has taken a short break before she is due to be cross examined.
12:00 PM GMT
‘I do feel guilty for falling asleep on her’, says Marten
Ms Marten explained that once the police had found Victoria’s body she had agreed to answer their questions and had given an interview about the circumstances of her death.
Asked by Mr FitzGibbon how she felt around that time, she said: “Depressed, grief, stress, a whole range of emotions.”
Mr FitzGibbons asked her: “Did you do anything or fail to do anything to cause your daughter’s death?”
Ms Marten replied: “No. She was our pride and joy. I have had four kids. I know how to look after children. We were taking great care of her. My primary concern was Victoria and to look after her. But I do feel guilty for falling asleep on her, I do feel responsible, if that is what happened, because the autopsy is not complete.”
11:57 AM GMT
Marten ‘too weak’ to carry baby’s body before arrest
Ms Marten explained that when they went to the shop to buy food, they had left Victoria’s body in the allotment shed where they had been sleeping.
She said they were too weak to carry her body at the time and Mr Gordon was only wearing one shoe and having to walk with a stick because he had a badly infected toe.
It was while they were at the shop that they were spotted by a member of the public and arrested by the police.
Ms Marten admitted she had not initially told police where her daughter’s body was because she was “panicked and scared” about what would happen.
“There has been so much media presence the truth would not be accepted and they would want to make us out to be awful people,” she explained.
11:48 AM GMT
Desperate couple searched bins for food
Ms Marten said as time went on they became increasingly weak and desperate and resorted to looking for food in bins.
She said: “Mark was anorexically thin and really unwell, I realised we cannot live like this. Not eating, sharing one piece of bread out of the bin was not sustainable, so I said to Mark we are going to have to get some money.
“I knew as soon as I used the card the police were going to come, but I said ‘baby, we need to get some food because the way we are living is completely unsustainable, so we went to the shop and bought food.’”
11:39 AM GMT
Marten ‘too scared’ to hand herself in to police
Asked by Mr FitzGibbon how she thought everything was going to end, Ms Marten said: “I don’t think I was really thinking to be honest. We were just in a heightened state of grief and fear. I kept toying with the idea of handing myself in.”
But she said she was aware of cases where parents whose children had died of cot deaths had ended up accused of killing them and so was terrified about what would happen to them.
“I was just too scared to take that risk because I knew with the press coverage I knew people wanted something negative to happen and they would not believe the truth,” she said.
11:29 AM GMT
Couple used disguises to avoid detection
Ms Marten explained that the couple relocated to an area called the Wild Wood where they began camping.
Mr Fitzgibbon asked her about a receipt from the Seaford Golf Club that was found in the bag for life in which her daughter’s body was found.
She denied ever visiting Seaford and asked Mr Fitzgibbon what the receipt was for.
The barrister said: “It was for a round of golf.”
Ms Marten replied: “We didn’t play a round of golf.”
She told the jury that they had visited Brighton on a couple of occasions where they bought hats and glasses to try to disguise themselves but as time went on became increasingly worried that they were going to be spotted, so they stayed in the tent.
11:21 AM GMT
Marten continues giving evidence
Resuming evidence from Thursday afternoon, Mr FitzGibbon asked Ms Marten about the events of Jan 12 last year when CCTV cameras recorded her visiting a Texaco service station in Newhaven, East Sussex, where she purchased various items, including a copy of The Sun newspaper.
She confirmed that a copy of that newspaper was later found in the bag for life with baby Victoria’s body.
Ms Marten explained that later that morning she and Mark Gordon had left the area of Newhaven where they had been camping and took a bus to Brighton.
She said they went to the beach and ate their food there before asking a dog walker if there were any large parks near Brighton, with the intention of hiding out.
11:04 AM GMT
Marten back in witness box
Constance Marten is back in the witness box as she prepares to continue giving defence evidence in her trial.
She is accused of manslaughter by gross negligence of her newborn baby girl.
10:43 AM GMT
Marten grew up in a wealthy family
Ms Marten told the jury yesterday how she had grown up in a wealthy family and had benefited from a private education.
She said she went to Leeds University where she studied Arabic, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies.
After university she had worked as a researcher for the Al Jazeera news channel and had also worked as a nanny and a photographer, she said.
Ms Marten explained that she had first met Mr Gordon around 2014 in an Indian shop in London.
Ms Marten explained that she had cut her wider family out of her life about two years before she met Mr Gordon.
10:25 AM GMT
Marten and Gordon were avoiding social services before Victoria death
Ms Marten said in the run up to Victoria’s birth she and Mr Gordon had been moving around regularly in order to avoid social services.
The court was told that on Dec 20 2022, the couple had booked a holiday cottage in Northumberland and Victoria was born there late on Christmas Eve.
She explained that they began moving every few days in order to avoid being pursued by private investigators she believed had been hired by her family.
10:08 AM GMT
All four children taken into care
The court heard on Thursday that all four of Marten’s children had been taken into care.
But she insisted none of them had been harmed by herself, she added: “I love my kids more than anything in the world. There is literally nothing I wouldn’t do for my children.”
She said even though her other four children had been taken into care or adopted she still wanted to have a family with Mr Gordon. She said initially the plan had been to go abroad, but following a legal dispute with a member of her family they were unable to travel.
09:48 AM GMT
Recap: Birth of first child
Speaking about the birth of her first child in Wales in 2017 she said: “I was trying to flee my family, I have spoken about a traumatic event involving one of my family members.”
She said there had been a dispute about her grandmother’s will and around that time she discovered she was being “trailed by private detectives”.
She told the court when her first child had been born she received around £50 a week from the family trust but she had written a “stern email” to the trustees, saying they had a “duty of care”.
After that, she said, the payments had been increased to around £1,700 a month and later to £2,000.
09:42 AM GMT
Constance Marten ‘considered suicide’ after death of baby daughter
Giving evidence for the first time yesterday, Ms Martin broke down in tears as she described the devastating moment she awoke in the tent to find that her baby was dead.
She said: “I had her in my jacket and when I woke up...she wasn’t alive. I believe it was 9 January. I feel guilty because she was in my arms. I feel like it’s not an easy thing to live with. I think initially it was disbelief, shock, intense grief.”
Asked by her defence counsel, Francis FitzGibbon KC, what they planned to do with the body, she said they had considered cremating the remains and ending their own lives at the same time.
09:41 AM GMT
Good morning and welcome
Good morning and welcome to our coverage of Constance Marten who will continue giving evidence over the death of her baby Victoria at the Old Bailey today.
Ms Marten, 36, and her partner Mark Gordon, 49, are accused of manslaughter by gross negligence after having the baby in secret and then going on the run in the depths of winter last year.
On Thursday she told a jury how she and Mr Gordon considered ending their lives when the baby died by cremating her body and jumping into the fire themselves.
The couple evaded authorities by travelling across the country and staying in cheap hotels before eventually camping in a tent on the South Downs where Victoria died.
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