Aristocrat Constance Marten and her partner Mark Gordon have pleaded not guilty to manslaughter over the death of their newborn baby.
Marten, 36, and Gordon, 49, were charged with manslaughter by gross negligence on 2 March after the body of their daughter was found in an allotment shed in Brighton.
They were also charged with concealing a child’s birth and perverting the course of justice. In July, it emerged that the pair were also facing further charges of child cruelty and causing or allowing the death of a child.
Appearing the Old Bailey on Thursday, they denied all the charges.
Marten, of no fixed address, appeared wearing a white blouse. Asked how she pleaded to the charge of manslaughter by gross negligence, she replied: “Definitely not guilty.”
A dock officer separated her from Gordon, who was wearing a grey prison issue tracksuit and green hat. He replied in a loud voice “not guilty” to each charge.
At one point, Judge Mark Lucraft KC interrupted Thursday’s hearing to tell the pair to stop talking in the dock.
He said: “This is your trial. If the two of you want to talk to each other it isn’t very courteous to either the court or your counsel, so please desist from that.”
It is alleged the pair caused the baby’s death by their own “unlawful act” or failed to “take such steps as could reasonably have been expected” to protect the infant, named as ‘Baby A’ on the indictment.
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon at a previous court hearing (Elizabeth Cook/PA)— (PA Wire)
The alleged offences are said to have taken place between January 4 and February 27.
The child’s remains were found in a plastic bag in a locked shed at an overgrown allotment in the Hollingbury area of Brighton on March 1. The discovery came after Marten and Gordon were arrested in nearby Stanmer Villas.
An initial post-mortem examination was unable to establish a cause of death.
The pair were remanded in custody to appear at a further case management hearing on 8 December. A provisional trial date has been scheduled for 2 January next year.
