Jurors at the Old Bailey were given a chilling insight into the harsh living conditions of Constance Marten and her partner Mark Gordon today. A tent and sleeping bags, identical to those used by the couple, were set up in court as part of their ongoing manslaughter trial concerning the tragic death of their baby daughter, Victoria.
The jury was shown the makeshift shelter, recreating the severe environment Marten, 37, and Gordon, 50, allegedly subjected their newborn to while living “off-grid” on the South Downs during the freezing early months of 2023.
Prosecutors allege that baby Victoria either died from hypothermia or was accidentally smothered during co-sleeping inside the “flimsy” tent amid biting cold and rain.
The court heard that the couple deliberately concealed the birth of their fifth child after their previous four children had been taken into care.
On January 5, 2023, following a fire that destroyed their Peugeot 206 on the M61 near Bolton, Marten and Gordon abandoned their belongings and fled the scene.
Taxi driver Hassan Guzel testified that he drove the couple from North West London to Newhaven, East Sussex, in the early hours of January 8. Initially, they intended to travel to Portsmouth but changed their destination midway through the journey.
Guzel became suspicious when he heard what he initially thought was a kitten’s meow, but it was actually a baby crying. “I know the noise a baby makes and this is the noise that a baby makes when it is looking for attention,” Guzel told the court. “I thought, why did they not tell me about this?”
He dropped them off at 4:56 am in a deserted area with no other cars nearby, raising concerns about their situation with a newborn in such isolation.
Another witness, Sarah Hidden from Seaford, East Sussex, told jurors she heard a baby crying loudly on two separate nights between January 16 and 27. While walking her dog nearby, she saw a couple pitching a tent and described the cries as “high-pitched” and urgent — definitely not animal noises.
She confirmed the cries came from a location with no nearby houses, suggesting the couple and baby were living in dangerous isolation.
Tragically, baby Victoria’s body was found stuffed in a shopping bag for life inside a disused shed near Brighton shortly after the couple were arrested on February 27, 2023.
Prosecutors claim Marten and Gordon failed to seek medical help and continued to conceal the birth and death of their child.
Both deny charges of gross negligence manslaughter and causing or allowing the death of a child between January 4 and February 27, 2023.
The pair, who have no fixed address, were also convicted in an earlier trial of concealing the birth of a child and perverting the course of justice.
The trial continues at the Old Bailey as this distressing case unfolds.
Originally published by UKNIP.
