Aristocrat mum posed as journalist while on the run with dead baby, court hears
Constance Marten’s desperate disguise
Constance Marten, 37, posed as a freelance journalist while fleeing with her newborn daughter, Victoria, a court has heard at a retrial at the Old Bailey. Marten and her partner, 50-year-old Mark Gordon, are charged with gross negligence manslaughter and causing or allowing the death of their infant after they vanished from authorities in January 2023.
Jurors learned baby Victoria was likely born in a remote cottage in Cumbria in late December 2022. The couple allegedly hid the birth, terrified authorities would take her into care — as had happened with their previous four children.
Undercover at Warrington hotel
On March 12, hotel receptionist Cathy Lloyd testified that Marten arrived at the Ibis Hotel at Lymm Services near Warrington around 4am on January 4, 2023, using the alias “Caroline Marten.”
“She told me she had lost her credit card and asked if she could pay in cash,” said Ms Lloyd. “She mentioned she lived in Hackney and had driven a long way, saying she just wanted to go home.”
Ms Lloyd described Marten as “extremely well-spoken,” “genuine,” and “very tired.” The pair never appeared together at the hotel, and she saw no sign of a baby.
Mark Gordon showed up soon after, described as “moody” and “unnerving.”
Tragic death and desperate escape
The prosecution claim the couple carried baby Victoria in a shopping bag or under a coat while moving from place to place in taxis and even camping in a tent on the South Downs.
Victoria is believed to have died from hypothermia or accidental smothering during co-sleeping in their flimsy shelter. Her body was found wrapped in a bag among rubbish in an abandoned shed near Brighton after their arrest on February 27, 2023.
Marten had received £3,400 from a trust fund a day before the hotel stay, exposing their access to funds yet failure to care for the baby.
The couple also abandoned their Peugeot after it caught fire on the M60 near Bolton on January 5, sparking a police search when a placenta was discovered in the wreckage.
Marten and Gordon plead not guilty
Both defendants, with no fixed address, deny gross negligence manslaughter and causing or allowing the death of a child between January 4 and February 27, 2023.
They had previously been convicted of concealing the birth of a child and perverting the course of justice.
The gripping retrial continues at the Old Bailey.
