Aristocrat Constance Marten has defended her decision to live on the run with her newborn baby and sleep in a tent, telling the Old Bailey: “Jesus survived in a barn”.
The 36-year-old is accused with partner Mark Gordon, 49, of the manslaughter of baby Victoria when they went “off grid” in a bid to avoid her being taken into care.
She told jurors they had “no concerns” about the decision to sleep in a tent, and accused prosecutor Joel Smith KC of having a “first world perspective” about the living situation, which she insisted was only meant to be temporary.
“People have lived all over the world in tents”, she said.
Marten told the court they had wanted to evade authorities by renting a property, and Mr Smith asked if they had planned to find a random barn to rent.
“Jesus survived in a barn”, she quickly replied.
Marten also made reference her privileged upbringing, and said she personally would have preferred a “feather duvet and comfort”.
“I will do anything for my baby”, she said. “I would rather be in a plush bed in a palace, but for my child I would live in a tent.”
After a two month-long manhunt, the couple were arrested in the Brighton area in late February last year, with both refusing to say where their daughter was.
Days later, Victoria’s body was recovered from a disused shed, laying in the bag-for-life shopping bag with leaves and rubbish including a used beer can and a sandwich wrapper.
Questioning Marten, Mr Smith asked her about the way the baby’s body had been “dumped”.
“Please don’t use that word”, she replied, agitated, before insisting her daughter’s body had been “placed, not dumped”.
She told the jury: “I don’t think you can comprehend something unless you are going through it – it’s awful when you are in a position like that, you can’t really explain it.”
Marten says Victoria died in her arms less than three weeks after being born on Christmas Eve 2022, and she has denied claims of neglect, telling the court: “Victoria was our number one priority.”
She says they kept their daughter’s body with them as they camped on the freezing cold South Downs while attempting not to be caught.
“In movies if someone passes away, they panic if they are not sure what to do”, she said.
“Mark and I were not in a good place, gripped with fear and grief. I don’t think either of us were in the right place.”
She said they were staying in the shed where Victoria was ultimately discovered, alongside a tent, out of date milk, and some bread on a makeshift table.
Marten says they were arrested while scavenging for food, on one of the rare occasions when they left the baby’s body behind. She denies leaving the body for long periods.
During cross-examination, Marten said the couple decided to go and sleep on the South Downs after struggling to rent a property or find somewhere else to live out of the spotlight, while a police manhunt was underway.
“Did you think about whether this was a good idea?”, asked Mr Smith.
“We had enough to keep her warm, and if we didn’t we would have bought more”, she replied, before adding that neither of them raised any concerns about the plan.
Marten, who hails from a wealthy aristocratic family, has told the court she is estranged from her relatives, who she accused of plotting to take her other children away.
She has peppered her evidence with references to her other four children being “stolen”, and says she feared the same fate for Victoria.
The defendants, of no fixed address, deny manslaughter by gross negligence, perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child, child cruelty and causing or allowing the death of a child.
The trial continues.
