Aristocrat Constance Marten has told jurors that she did not want police to find her newborn baby’s remains as she was “terrified” of standing trial.
Marten, 36, testified at the Old Bailey for a second day on Friday as she and her partner Mark Gordon, 49, deny charges of gross negligence manslaughter of their daughter Victoria between 4 January and 27 February last year.
Speaking of the infant, the 36-year-old told jurors on Thursday that she “did nothing but show her love” as the court heard the mother concealed her pregnancy and went on the run with Gordon after their four other children were taken into care.
Victoria died while the couple were evading authorities and her remains were found in a Lidl shopping bag in a disused shed last March.
Prosecutors allege the couple’s “reckless and utterly selfish” behaviour led to the newborn’s “entirely avoidable” death after they spent weeks living “off-grid” in a tent on the South Downs in wintry conditions.
The couple also deny charges of perverting the course of justice by concealing the body, along with concealing the birth of a child, child cruelty, and allowing the death of a child.
Marten will resume giving evidence at 11am on Monday when the trial continues.
