The jury in the trial of aristocrat Constance Marten has been given a majority direction by the judge.
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 wintry conditions last January.
In what they said was a bid to keep their baby after four previous children were taken into care, the couple had gone on the run and evaded police for nearly two months. Following their arrest, Victoria’s badly decomposed remains were found in a Lidl shopping bag in an allotment shed.
The couple deny charges of gross negligence manslaughter of Victoria between 4 January and 27 February last year, 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.
On 3 June, Judge Mark Lucraft KC gave the 10-strong jury at the Old Bailey a majority direction, saying he would accept verdicts on which nine of them agreed.