Marten: Family claimed I bred children for black market

CONSTANCE MARTEN’S family accused her of “breeding children for the black market” during a bitter family court dispute, she told the Old Bailey.

The 36-year-old, who is on trial accused of the manslaughter of her baby daughter, Victoria, told jurors a family member tried to have her children removed in revenge after she spoke out about “serious abuse”.

In bad-tempered exchanges with Joel Smith, prosecution barrister, Ms Marten, who is under cross-examination, claimed her children had been “stolen from her by that state”. The jury had previously heard how Ms Marten and her partner, Mark Gordon, gave birth to Victoria in secret and then went on the run with her last winter, after her first four children were taken into care.

She told the jury: “I had spoken out about serious abuse by that family member and as a way to get back at me they tried to take my children away from me. A member of my family made an allegation that I was breeding children to sell on the black market and that I was a drug addict. It was completely outrageous.”

The couple were sleeping rough on the South Downs last January when Victoria died and her body was later discovered in a disused shed on an allotment. Ms Marten explained she had gone on the run because she had “no faith in the system” and feared social services would remove Victoria when she was born.

The couple are accused of manslaughter by gross negligence, concealing the birth of a child, cruelty to a person under 16, causing or allowing the death of a child and perverting the course of justice. They deny all the charges and the trial continues.