Constance Marten trial updates: Aristocrat and Gordon accused of killing newborn baby back in court

We’re in today’s hearing and just hearing the start of the closing remarks of prosecutor Tom Little KC.

He tells the jury he will reveal “the lies, inconsistencies and fabrications that lie at the heart of the shadow and sham defences” put forward during the trial.

Referring to Constance Marten’s evidence, he told the Old Bailey: “Lies fell from her mouth like confetti in the wind as she gave evidence.

“We suggest that the notion that she is a reliable, let alone honest, witness is risible.

“Her evidence comes with a monumental health warning. She was and is an utterly unreliable witness.”

Giving evidence, Constance Marten told the court she had broken ties with her family several years earlier amid fears she and co-accused Mark Gordon were being “trailed by private investigators very heavily”.

When police searched the couple’s burnt out car in January 2023 – which they abandoned after it caught fire on the M61 near Bolton – officers found 34 burner phones which Marten told the jury she was using because she was worried her phones and emails were being “hacked”.

Last week, the jury heard how Marten’s parents told police that no private investigators were trailing their daughter when she went on the run with Gordon.

Marten, 36, and Gordon, 49, both deny gross negligence manslaughter of their newborn daughter who died after they fled to stop the baby being taken into care like their four other children.

Earlier in the trial, Constance Marten told jurors she felt “responsible” for “falling asleep” on her newborn while living in a tent on the run with Mark Gordon.

Giving evidence, she said she believes she may have fallen asleep on the youngster after they pitched a tent in Newhaven to “lay low”.

“She was our pride and joy. I had four kids. I know how to look after children. Our primary concern was Victoria,” she told the court.

“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.”

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The jury in the trial have previously been shown a video of Constance Marten’s arrest in Brighton.

It shows a police officer identifying her with the use of a picture on a mobile phone, as another asks ‘where is your child’.

The baby’s remains were found in a disused shed, hidden by a plastic bag and covered in rubbish “as if she was refuse”, the prosecution told the court.

Today we are expecting the prosecution to sum up its evidence in the case before the jury retires to consider its verdict.

Marten, 36, and Mark Gordon, 49, both deny gross negligence manslaughter of their newborn daughter

Constance Marten, 36, and Mark Gordon, 49, both deny gross negligence manslaughter of their newborn daughter who died after they fled to stop the baby being taken into care like their four other children.

Marten has previously told the court how she fell asleep with the infant, named Victoria, zipped inside her jacket as they camped off-grid in the South Downs last January but awoke to find her dead.

Last week, jurors heard how Constance Marten’s parents told police that no private investigators were trailing their daughter when she went on the run with Mark Gordon.

The court heard that Marten’s mother employed a private investigator for two weeks in October 2016 because she was worried about her daughter.

Meanwhile her father told police he had hired investigators to find her in 2017 and 2021.

We’re restarting updates on our blog this morning as we expectthe prosecution to begin summing up its evidence today in its case against Constance Marten and Mark Gordon.

Marten, 36, and her partner Mark Gordon, 49, have been accused of manslaughter after their daughter Victoria died while they were camping on the South Downs in sub-zero temperatures last January.

We’ll bring you the latest from the Old Bailey.

In agreed facts read to the jury on Thursday, they were told Marten’s parents had made statements to the police about their use of private investigators.

The court heard that Marten’s mother employed a private investigator for two weeks in October 2016 because she was worried about her daughter.

Her father told police he had hired investigators to find her in 2017 and 2021.

However, both deny any private investigator was instructed to find her in 2022 or in 2023 – when she went on the run with Gordon and baby Victoria.

The prosecution is expected to begin their closing speech today in the Old Bailey trial of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon.

Marten, 36, and her partner Mark Gordon, 49, have been accused of manslaughter after their daughter Victoria died while they were camping on the South Downs in sub-zero temperatures last January.