Aristocrat: Jesus survived in a barn, so why couldn’t my own baby live in a tent?
Don’t miss the Mail’s acclaimed podcast
AN ARISTOCRAT accused of killing her baby defended her decision to live with the newborn in a tent, telling a court: ‘Jesus survived in a barn’.
Constance Marten, 36, told jurors: ‘People do things they need to do. Jesus survived in a barn, didn’t he? I would do anything to protect my child.’
Marten and her partner Mark Gordon, 49, are accused of going on the run with their baby Victoria, who died last year after they resorted to camping in freezing temperatures.
Marten said she would rather have slept in a ‘palace’, but was prepared to live in a tent to prevent Victoria being taken into care by social workers like her four previous children.
‘I’ve grown up with lots of luxury, I’ve been very blessed in that respect. I would rather be in plush bed in a palace, but for my child I’ll live in a tent.’
Fighting back tears, the mother denied being ‘cavalier’ with Victoria, but told the court she felt responsible for falling asleep on her in the tent.
Marten said: ‘Her death was not caused by where we were, it was just a very sad set of circumstances and a tragic accident. It could have happened anywhere, but it happened to be in a tent.’
Prosecutor Joel Smith asked: ‘Even now, even after everything, you do not accept it was wrong to take that child into the tent?’
Marten replied: ‘ No, because that’s not why she passed away. I do feel responsible for her death, absolutely, but I do not think it had anything to do with being in a tent.’ Sobbing, she added: ‘I didn’t mean to fall asleep but obviously I live with that sadness because she died in my arms.’
Pathologists have been unable to determine whether the child died of hypothermia, exposure or co-sleeping. Marten told the Old Bailey it was an ‘easy decision’ to take Victoria on the run, adding: ‘ My two older children were abused in care, my other children would turn up to contact centres with bruises. They were abused.’
She likened social services and the family court decision to take away her children to the wrongful conviction of postmasters because of the flawed Horizon accounting system. Marten said: ‘Social services are an absolute abomination and one day I do believe, like with the Post Office scandal, it will be looked at. There’ll be uproar and . . . we will get a public apology.’
A nationwide search began after a placenta was found in the couple’s burnt-out car by a motorway near Bolton, Greater Manchester, on January 5 last year. They were arrested near Brighton on February 27, two days before Victoria’s body was found in a Lidl bag.
The couple 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.