Constance Marten calls time on cross-examination
The 37-year-old is on trial with Mark Gordon, 50, charged with the manslaughter of their daughter Victoria in early 2023.
Aristocrat Constance Marten has called time on her evidence about the death of her baby girl.
Marten, 37, and Mark Gordon, 50, are on trial charged with the manslaughter of their daughter Victoria who died after they went off-grid and slept in a tent on the South Downs in early 2023.
The Old Bailey has heard the couple had wanted to avoid their fifth child being taken into care amid a high-profile police hunt for the missing baby.
The prosecution alleges Victoria died from hypothermia or was smothered while co-sleeping in the “flimsy” tent, despite past warnings.
The child’s body was discovered with rubbish inside a shopping bag in a disused shed near Brighton after the defendants were arrested on February 27 2023.
Marten’s evidence had a delayed start on April 22 after she complained about suffering from a headache and toothache.
She went on to describe to jurors how Victoria died, saying it was the “worst nightmare that you have ever woke up from”.
She did not report the death as she feared being called “some evil mother, a murderess, that sort of thing”, Marten said.
Last Thursday, Marten was initially cross-examined by Gordon who is now representing himself.
In answer to his questions, she said that her family saw her as an “embarrassment” and “will stop at nothing to get what they want”.
Cross-examining, prosecutor Joel Smith KC then asked her if leaving her daughter’s body in a bag of rubbish was a “despicable thing” to do.
Marten objected to his line of questioning, saying that Mr Smith was “diabolical” and a “heartless human being”.
On Tuesday, Judge Mark Lucraft KC told jurors that Marten had decided not to continue with Mr Smith’s cross-examination.
The jury was sent away until Wednesday afternoon when the Old Bailey trial will continue.
Marten and Gordon, of no fixed address, have denied the gross negligence manslaughter of their daughter and causing or allowing her death between January 4 and February 27 2023.
Jurors have been told the defendants were convicted at an earlier trial of concealing the birth of a child and perverting the course of justice.
