Constance Marten spotted 'hiding crying baby in jacket' as she walked into bus station with lover before couple 'murdered' newborn
A 'selfish' aristocrat was seen hiding her crying baby in her coat before she and her lover murdered the tragic newborn, a court heard.
Constance Marten, 36, and her partner Mark Gordon, 49, are said to have fled with baby Victoria to avoid being taken.
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The couple the birth hidden in 2022 it then went “off-grid” – living in a “thin and flimsy” tent in the middle of nature winterjurors heard.
Victoria, who spent “much of her life” in one Lidl bag for life, was later found dead in an abandoned shed as if she were “garbage”.
The Old Bailey has now shown footage of Marten and Gordon as they embarked on their perilous journey.
The mum appears to be hiding newborn Victoria under her puffer jacket as the pair stroll through Bolton's bus interchange.
At this point the court heard they had left their burning car with the placenta inside on the M61 motorway.
The couple is said to have traveled to the other side England – including spending £400 on a taxi from Liverpool to Essex with the help of the “rich” Marten trust fund.
Marten, whose family lived on the Crichel House estate in Dorset, received almost £19,000 in payments into her account from the trust while on the run.
Her father was a page to the late queen, while her grandmother was a goddaughter the Queen Mother.
Despite this, jurors were told that baby Victoria was carted around by her parents in just a nappy despite the cold temperatures.
One witness who saw the couple in Harwich, Essex, confronted them after watching a news report of their disappearance.
Dog walker Dale Gosling said it was “icy cold” at the time, but little Victoria was dressed in a white onesie and wrapped in Marten's coat.
He said the baby let out the kind of cry he “couldn't walk away from” and agreed she sounded “distressed.”
Mr Gosling told jurors: 'I said, 'Excuse me, are you the people on the list? television Advertised as missing with a new baby?'
'I can't remember his exact words, but he denied it.
“I offered them a ride to the hospital. He said he was doing the best for his child, that he wanted to keep his family together and do the right thing and all that.”
The witness said Marten and Gordon told him they were trying to go to London to see family or friends.
He then offered to take the couple back home, despite thinking his wife would “do her crazy” as this was the “morally right thing to do”.
The dog walker said Victoria was crying “consistently”, but while Marten seemed willing to go with him, Gordon was “quite adamant that he was fine”.
When asked if he had “embellished” his evidence and that the baby was not crying.
He said: 'I remember a child screaming so much that I had to physically turn around and get involved with people because the child was upset.
“It was really traumatizing to listen to.”
The discovery of the burning car on the highway sparked a huge manhunt for the pair after officers found the placenta in a towel.
Other items in the car included “new baby” diapers and newborn clothes, as well as “burner phones.”
a missing personThe company's investigation was launched, becoming “bigger and bigger news” as time went on, jurors were told.
But instead of reaching out PoliceMarten and Gordon are said to have instead tried to conceal their whereabouts out of fear that Victoria would be taken into care like their other four children.
They are also accused of choosing to “deprive the baby of what she needed” – including “warmth, shelter and food and ultimately safety.”
In the middle of a 'cold winter and in cruel and clearly dangerous weather circumstances”, the pair went “essentially off-grid”.
Jurors heard they lived in a tent with barely any clothes and no means to stay warm and dry.
With “barely” food, Marten and Gordon remained on the run, failing to seek medical attention or even register the birth as they moved from “location to location”, it was said.
Prosecutor Tom Little KC said the case involved “the completely avoidable death of a young baby”.
Marten and Gordon deny manslaughter by gross negligence, concealment of the birth of a child, cruelty to a person under 16 and perverting the course of justice.
They also deny causing or permitting the death of a child between January 4 and February 27 last year, an alternative charge to manslaughter.
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