Tragic baby exposed to 'utterly dangerous' conditions by parents

But aristocrat's lawyer says death was accident

- Emily Pennink

ARISTOCRAT Constance Marten and her partner exposed their newborn daughter to “utterly dangerous” conditions before she died in a tent, a jury heard yesterday.

Marten, 37, and Mark Gordon, 50, deny the gross negligence manslaughter of baby Victoria and causing or allowing the death of a child.

The couple kept the birth of their fifth child secret and went on the run on January 5, 2023, after their four other children were taken into care, the Old Bailey was told.

When their car burst into flames on a motorway near Bolton, they travelled by taxi to Essex and London and then to the South Downs in Sussex where they slept with the infant in a tent, jurors heard.

Having carried the child in a Lidl bag during her short life, the baby was abandoned amid rubbish in the same bag after she died, it is alleged.