A jury has failed to reach verdicts in the trial of aristocrat Constance Marten and her partner Mark Gordon over the death of their newborn baby.
Marten, 37, and Gordon, 50, have been on trial for manslaughter since January after their daughter Victoria died the previous January while they were camping on the South Downs in wintry conditions.
The couple were on the run for nearly two months despite repeated public appeals for their whereabouts. Following their arrest, Victoria’s remains were found in a Lidl shopping bag in an allotment shed in Brighton, East Sussex, last March.
The couple denied charges of gross negligence manslaughter of Victoria between 4 January and 27 February last year and causing or allowing the death of a child. They also denied charges of perverting the course of justice by concealing her body, along with concealing the birth of a child and child cruelty.
Judge Mark Lucraft KC discharged the jury at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, almost six months after the trial began, and following more than 72 hours of deliberation.
Marten and Gordon may face a retrial.