Sleeping in tent with new baby ‘not reasonable parenting decision’, court told
Baby Victoria died from hypothermia or was smothered while co-sleeping in a ‘flimsy’ tent with Constance Marten and Mark Gordon, it is alleged.
Going off-grid and sleeping in a tent in the middle of the winter with a newborn baby is not “a reasonable parenting decision”, an infant sleep expert has told a jury.
Constance Marten, 37, and Mark Gordon, 50, are on trial charged with the manslaughter of their daughter Victoria who died on the South Downs in early 2023.
The prosecution alleges Victoria died from hypothermia or was smothered while co-sleeping in the “flimsy” tent, despite past warnings.
Professor Helen Ball, an expert in safe baby sleeping practices from Durham University, told the Old Bailey that newborn babies are “helpless” and must be kept “warm” and “fed”.
Asked by prosecutor Joel Smith KC if guidance to parents on safe sleeping extended to those living in tents, Prof Ball agreed, and said “parents should plan ahead about where a baby is going to sleep”.
It is also alleged that Victoria was inadequately clothed in a babygrow and that Marten had got wet as she carried the baby underneath her coat.
Questioned about keeping a baby in a coat, she said: “I would be concerned about a baby that was zipped completely in a coat because you wouldn’t be able to monitor it”.
Professor Ball told the court that in CCTV footage she had seen of the couple’s time on the run, Victoria seemed to be “flopping around”, and was not being supported properly by her mother.
Asked if it was advisable to keep a baby in a tent in the way Marten and Gordon are accused of, Professor Ball said no, adding: “It does not seem to be a reasonable parenting decision.”
On Tuesday, Judge Mark Lucraft KC told jurors that Marten had decided not to continue with Mr Smith’s cross-examination.
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.
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.
Jurors were sent away until Thursday when the Old Bailey trial will continue.
