Aristocrat ‘kept baby in a Lidl bag’
AN aristocrat and her lover killed their newborn baby by going on the run with her in a Lidl shopping bag, a court in Britain heard yesterday.
Constance Marten, 36, and Mark Gordon, 49, allegedly fled across the UK in a ‘desperately selfish’ bid to avoid losing custody of Victoria after their four older children were taken into care because of the couple’s ‘dangerous’ behaviour, the court in London was told.
The start of their Old Bailey trial was told the ‘reckless, callous, cruel and arrogant’ pair spent their cash on taxis and transport, moving around the UK to keep out of the clutches of the authorities, rather than put a warm, safe roof over their heads in winter.
Victoria lived most of her short life being carried in a Lidl ‘bag for life’ before allegedly being dumped, ‘as if she was refuse’, when she died.
When police finally caught up with the runaway couple in February last year, after two months on the run, Victoria’s body was found in the same bag, covered in rubbish in a disused shed, the jurors heard.
Marten is alleged to have given birth in secret and decided to go ‘off grid’ with Gordon, living in a ‘thin and flimsy’ tent in ‘obviously dangerous conditions’ as temperatures plunged to -2C on the South Downs near Brighton, causing the ‘entirely avoidable death’ of their child.
The court heard that despite her privileged upbringing and ready access to cash and bank cards, Marten was so desperate to avoid the authorities that she resorted to scouring bins for food, carrying Victoria under a coat padded out with furniture stuffing that she had scavenged to ward off the freezing cold.
Jurors heard yesterday that social services had removed a child found living with the couple among bottles of urine and bin bags of clothes in a cold, damp and stale-smelling tent.
It was said that Marten had given birth to that child in hospital under a false name, speaking with a fake Irish accent in the hope of convincing nurses that she was from the Travelling community.
Marten allegedly claimed to be homeless on account of having to flee her family, who disapproved of her having a baby out of wedlock, it was said. But in reality, she hailed from a wealthy family growing up at the Dorset estate Crichel House. Her grandmother was a playmate of Princess Margaret and goddaughter to the Queen Mother.
The couple had also abandoned another baby in hospital shortly after Marten had given birth, jurors were told. The case, which is set to last for six weeks, continues.