Aristocrat Constance Marten received nearly £19,000 from family trust funds while on the run with the newborn baby she is accused of killing by failing to properly care for her, a court has heard.
The 36-year-old is on trial at the Old Bailey alongside boyfriend Mark Gordon, 49, charged with the manslaughter of baby Victoria, who died while they criss-crossed the country in a ‘selfish’ bid to keep her after their four older children were all taken into care, it is said.
Despite hailing from a wealthy family – her father was a page to the late Queen – and having access to cash and bank cards, she and Gordon are said to have resorted to rifling through bins for food and scavenging for furniture stuffing to keep warm while staying ‘off grid’ in freezing temperatures.
On Friday, jurors were told Marten received a payment of £15,590 from a family trust fund into her Metrobank account on December 22, 2022.
Another payment was made to her on January 3 from a different trust, this time for £3,400.
Opening the case last week, prosecutor Tom Little KC told the jury Marten comes from ‘a wealthy family’ but prioritised her finances on transport instead of ‘warmth and safety’.
‘They put their relationship and their view of life before the life of a little baby girl,’ he went on.
‘They decided that, in the middle of a cold winter and in cruel and obviously dangerous weather conditions, they would deprive the baby of what it needed – warmth, shelter and food and ultimately safety.’
Mr Little said: ‘Their selfish desire to keep their baby girl led inexorably to the death of that very baby.’
Outlining the defence argument, John Femi-Ola KC, representing Gordon, said the infant was ‘well cared for’ and ‘did not require medical assistance’.
After she had died, petrol was purchased to cremate the child, but the couple decided against the idea, he said.
Jurors have heard Marten ‘wanted to find out why her beloved baby died’. She did not attend court again on Friday.
Gordon sat in the dock wearing a blue shirt and dark blue tie.
The jury was previously told how the couple travelled across England in cars and taxis, with the newborn baby tucked underneath Marten’s coat and later kept in a Lidl bag-for-life.
Mr Femi-Ola continued: ‘The defence’s case is that baby Victoria was born on December 24, 2022, and that she died on January 9, 2023.
‘Constance Marten said that after the baby died she did not know what to do.
‘There was an attempt to preserve the body. She wanted to find out why her beloved baby died. Yes, beloved.’
Mr Femi-Ola disputed the claim Victoria was deprived of ‘warmth, shelter and food’ and insisted the baby was ‘well cared for’.
‘The baby was kept warm and dry, and was fed such that she was well nourished,’ he told the jury.
‘The baby did not require medical assistance … there is no evidence of any violence.
‘What Constance Marten had to say to police about the death of baby Victoria is entirely consistent with the findings of pathologists.’
Marten and Gordon were ‘driven off grid’, he added.
The couple, of no fixed address, deny manslaughter by gross negligence, perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child, child cruelty and causing or allowing the death of a child.
The trial continues.
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