I believe I fell asleep on our beloved baby Victoria. I woke up and she wasn't alive'

A COUPLE have denied killing their "beloved" newborn daughter insisting the baby died at just 16 days old after being "well cared for", a court has heard.

- Paul Jeeves

Aristocrat Constance Marten, 36, and Mark Gordon, 48, allegedly fled across the country with tiny baby Victoria.

Prosecutors claim that the couple, who had four older children taken into care, went on the run after the birth of their fifth child and allegedly camped in a tent on the freezing South Downs in January last year in a "selfish" bid to avoid another youngster being taken away from them.

Medical

But defence barrister John FemiOla KC, representing Gordon, yesterday told Old Bailey jurors the defendant denies ill-treating the baby, who he says was born on Christmas Eve 2022 and died on January 9, 2023.

Mr Femi-Ola said: "The defence contends the baby was kept warm and dry, and was fed such that she was well-nourished.

"The baby was well cared for. The baby didn't require medical assistance and died in the heart-breaking circumstances described by her mother in the interview with the police." When questioned after their arrest in February last year, Marten told detectives baby Victoria had died in her arms as she slept. She said: "I believe I fell asleep on top of her. She didn't make any crying or movements, and when I woke up she wasn't alive. I was holding her in my jacket, that's how I usually held her, but I think I fell asleep crouching over her and she passed away."

Tom Little KC, prosecuting, previously told jurors the defendants are accused of "reckless, callous, cruel and arrogant" behaviour by taking the newborn camping in freezing temperatures, allegedly without adequate food, warm clothing and with just a "flimsy" tent for shelter.