Aristocrat Constance Marten, 36, and her boyfriend, Mark Gordon, 49, have pleaded not guilty to charges related to the death of their newborn daughter, Victoria, after a high-profile 54-day police hunt earlier this year.
The couple, who went on the run with their baby in January, appeared at the Old Bailey in London today to deny multiple charges. Victoria’s lifeless body was discovered in a plastic bag beneath a pile of diapers in a shed on a Brighton allotment.
Among the charges brought against Marten and Gordon are manslaughter by gross negligence, concealment of the birth of a child, perverting the course of justice, child cruelty, and causing or allowing the death of a child. These alleged offences span from January 4 to February 27.
In court, Marten, wearing a white jumper and black trousers, and Gordon, dressed in a grey tracksuit with a green skull cap, emphatically entered their not-guilty pleas. Gordon vocalized his denials, while Marten stated, “absolutely not guilty” and “definitely not guilty” in response to the charges.
Judge Mark Lucraft, KC, the Recorder of London, cautioned the couple for conversing in the dock, reminding them that it was their trial being discussed and that private conversations were discourteous to everyone involved.
Napier Marten, Constance Marten’s father and a former page to the late Queen, attended the court proceedings, dressed in a green jacket and purple tie and pocket square.
The trial is scheduled to last six weeks, commencing in January of the coming year. Marten and Gordon will next appear for a case management hearing on December 8.
During the hearing, Gudrun Young, KC, representing Marten, suggested that the trial date might be too soon. However, prosecutor Joel Smith argued that the trial should proceed as planned.
The case garnered significant attention as hundreds of officers from the Metropolitan Police and Sussex Police, along with search and rescue volunteers, conducted an extensive search covering 90 square miles of land in the quest to find the missing baby.
CCTV footage captured the couple wearing heavy outdoor clothing and carrying bags as they walked down a street before their eventual arrest. Their disappearance was reported on January 5 after their car caught fire on the M61 near Bolton.
It is believed that Marten had recently given birth and had not received a medical assessment at that time. Sightings of the couple were reported in various locations, including Liverpool, Essex, south London, and East Sussex, over the following days. They had reportedly been living in a blue tent and managed to evade capture during their time on the run.
