Social employee discovered rich aristocrat Constance Marten residing in ‘unsanitary’ tent when pregnant with first child, jury informed | EUROtoday

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A rich aristocrat on trial over the demise of her fifth youngster was residing in a humid tent in a woodland plagued by bottles of urine till the beginning of her firstborn, a courtroom has heard.

Jurors had been informed Constance Marten and her associate Mark Gordon arrived at a hospital in Wales within the early phases of labour in 2017, claiming her identify was Isabella O’Brien and he or she was a part of the travelling neighborhood.

She placed on a faux Irish accent throughout her supply, with Mr Gordon giving his identify as James Amer, however police and social companies had been known as after the couple’s true identities had been found.

The jury heard that Ms Marten claimed they believed that in the event that they posed as travellers, they’d be given social housing.

A social employee later discovered the couple had been residing in a inexperienced “festival tent” throughout her being pregnant in an remoted space of woodland with damp blankets and plastic bottles of urine.

Giving proof on the Old Bailey, the place the pair is standing trial over the demise of their fifth youngster in a tent six years later, the social employee described the residing situations as “unhygienic” and “unsanitary”.

The witness, who can’t be named for authorized causes, stated the tent was sufficiently big for 2 folks “at a push”, telling the jurors: “I commented how uncomfortable it would be for them both and particularly Ms Marten in the conditions of the weather – damp, rainy, cold. I did say to her it would be unsuitable to take a child back to the tent.”

The social employee stated the tent “smelled stale and damp” and contained baggage of garments and a backpack crammed a variety of crystals, which Ms Marten stated she had gathered in Peru.

The witness claimed the brand new mom had requested her to not “judge” her various life-style, to which she defined her function was to evaluate the danger to the kid, jurors heard.

After she was inspired to achieve out to her household for help, Ms Marten’s stepfather promised to ship £1000 and “support her financially with whatever she needed” in a cellphone name, the social employee stated.

The following month Ms Marten was warned of the dangers of co-sleeping after she had fallen asleep with the child on her chest whereas residing in a mom and child placement.

Ms Marten was inspired to place the kid down in a Moses basket on account of issues about overheating and suffocation, the witness stated, including that she additionally defined the doubtless deadly dangers of positional asphyxia.

Child FF and the couple’s three youthful kids had been finally taken into care.

Jurors had been informed Ms Marten, now 37, and Mr Gordon, now 50, “temporarily went into hiding” in a tent on the South Downs in January 2023 as a result of they didn’t need quit their fifth youngster, a child lady who they delivered in secret.

The mother and father deny gross negligence manslaughter and inflicting or permitting the demise of the toddler, known as Victoria.

Prosecutors declare the couple “recklessly” went on the run in a humid and flimsy tent with solely a single onesie for the child, regardless of the “obvious” danger of hypothermia for the susceptible youngster.

Prosecutor Tom Little KC described the mother and father’ behaviour because the “paradigm of gross negligence” earlier than the new child’s eventual demise in “inhuman conditions” contained in the tent as a result of chilly or “grossly negligent co-sleeping”.

Victoria’s decomposing physique was finally discovered by the police stashed in a Lidl bag-for-life, which they allegedly additionally used to hold her round on the run.

However Francis Fitzgibbon KC, for Ms Marten, insisted what occurred was “no crime but a terrible, tragic accident”.

He informed the jury the toddler died at simply over two weeks outdated inside a day or two of them pitching their tent in Sussex, after the “stressed and exhausted” mom fell asleep after breastfeeding.

He stated it was “something that can happen anywhere when an exhausted breastfeeding mother may fall asleep on her newborn baby”.

“And then, consumed by grief and still wishing to avoid the world, her existence was reduced to scavenging for food and living in appalling conditions, and she was unwilling to let go of the remains of the baby girl,” he added.

John Femi-Ola KC, for Mr Gordon, informed the jury that “co-sleeping is not a crime” and disputed that the kid was ever carried in a bag-for-life whereas she was alive.

He stated: “It’s Mark Gordon’s case that Victoria was well cared for, well-loved and kept warm close to her mother. The fact that when she was found she was in a so-called onesie is not conclusive that is the only item of clothing she had.

“It is disputed that Victoria was ever carried in a bag-for-life whilst she was living. Carrying her in such a way after she had passed is altogether a different matter and it will be for you to decide whether there is some form of grieving reaction.

“You will need to consider their shock and grief after her death. They neglected themselves for weeks thereafter, but this is not an indication of how they cared for their child.”

Opening the prosecution’s case on Monday, Mr Little informed the jury Ms Marten was a “trust fund child” who grew up in a rich household.

“She had potential access to really as much money as she would have wanted if she had chosen to do the right thing,” the prosecutor stated.

He accused the mother and father of placing “their relationship and their views of life before the life of that little baby girl” after a household courtroom made a “lawful and proper” determination to take their different kids into care.

The mom appeared within the dock sporting a white shirt, black jacket and blue scarf alongside Mr Gordon, who was sporting a blue shirt and salmon-coloured headband.

Ms Marten and Mr Gordon each deny prices of gross negligence manslaughter of Baby A and inflicting or permitting the toddler’s demise.

The jury heard that final 12 months, the pair was convicted of concealing the beginning of the kid and perverting the course of justice in a earlier trial.

The retrial continues.