British aristocrat Constance Martin has dismissed rumours that she carried her newborn daughter in a shopping bag while on the run, calling it “absolute nonsense”.
Marten, 37, and Mark Gordon, 50, are charged with the manslaughter of their daughter Victoria, who died after they lost power in early 2023.
The Central Criminal Court heard earlier that the couple had avoided having their fifth child taken from them amid an intense police operation to find the missing child, with Marten claiming her other children had been “abducted by the state”.
The prosecution claims Victoria died of hypothermia or suffocation while sleeping together in a “flimsy” tent on England's South Downs, despite previous warnings.
The child's body was found among rubbish in a shopping bag in a disused shed near Brighton after the defendants were arrested on February 27, 2023.
Giving evidence on Monday, Marten told jurors that she and Gordon decided to flee to the countryside on January 7, 2023, while in London because “there were too many people watching them”.
The court heard that the pram Victoria was in was abandoned before they took a taxi from Whitechapel to Green Lanes in the Haringey area of the British capital.
Marten said Gordon had been holding the baby on his chest under his jacket in a sling the entire time, adding that she had done the same.
Asked if there was a time when the couple carried her in a supermarket bag, Martin replied: “Absolutely not. The whole point was to hide her from prying eyes.”
“This is complete nonsense.”
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
