A baby girl died after her “cruel” parents fled and she lived “off-grid” in a tent in “freezing and clearly dangerous” weather conditions, a court has heard.
‘Wealthy’ Constance Marten, 36, and Mark Gordon, 49, placed their daughter in an institution after their other four children were previously placed with social services. I was worried that I would be killed.
Jurors at the Old Bailey trial were told on Thursday that Ms Marten gave birth while the couple were on the run but did not seek medical help before, during or after their daughter’s arrival.
The defendants traveled around England in cars and taxis, and the newborn baby was hidden under Ms Marten’s coat and then placed in Liddle’s “lifetime bag”.
She and Gordon set up camp on the South Downs without proper clothing, equipment, or food. In other words, the baby “never had a chance.”
Prosecutor Tom Little KC told the court they left the lifeless infant in an unlocked shed in a shopping bag full of rubbish, leaving her “like a piece of trash”.
It said the defendants’ “selfish desire” to keep the baby led to her “completely inevitable” death.
Mr Little told jurors that she would still be alive had it not been for Mr Marten and Mr Gordon’s “reckless, totally selfish, callous, cruel, arrogant and ultimately gross negligence”.
The couple deny killing their daughter through gross negligence between January 4 and February 27 last year.
They are also charged with perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child, child abuse, and causing or causing the death of a child.
Defendants “prioritize their relationship over their daughter’s life”
In opening his complaint to prosecutors, Little said: ”[Marten and Gordon] Prioritize your relationships and outlook on life over the girl’s life.
“In the middle of a cold winter, in cruel and clearly dangerous weather conditions, they decided to deprive babies of what they needed: warmth, shelter, food, and ultimately safety. did.
“They basically lived in tents without electricity, with little clothing, no way to stay warm and dry, and little food.”
“Their selfish desire to keep the baby girl inexorably led to her death,” Mr Little told the jury.
“They were on the run and remained on the run. They delivered the baby while on the run. They did not seek medical assistance before, during or after the birth.”
“Rather than registering births, they move from place to place.
“After the baby died, the defendants did not turn themselves in, tried to hide without electricity, and left the dead baby’s body in a garbage-covered shopping bag, as if it were trash.” An unlocked hut. ”
Read more on Sky News:
Murderer convicted of Nottingham attack
DJ jailed for urinating on cancer patient
The jury heard the defendants booked a holiday home in Northumberland on December 20, 2022, while on the run, and left it in an “appalling condition”.
On January 5 last year, a couple were forced to flee a vehicle that burst into flames off the M61 in Greater Manchester.
The placenta, wrapped in a towel, was found discarded in the wreckage, along with Marten’s passport and a “burner phone” – an inexpensive device typically used by criminals to evade detection by authorities.
So authorities launched an appeal that drew national media coverage almost exactly a year ago, the court said.
The couple eventually headed to Whitechapel, east London, where Gordon is said to have bought a tent, and spent £475 in a taxi from the capital to Newhaven, East Sussex, on January 8.
Little said Marten “comes from a wealthy family” but prioritized transportation over “warmth and safety.”
He told the jury: “She didn’t have the best education. She had access to money and the support she needed. All of this raises a lot of questions that she will have to answer at this trial.” I would have to,” he said.
The trial is scheduled to continue until March 8th.
