A British aristocrat accused of manslaughter over the death of her newborn daughter told jurors Thursday that she “did nothing but show her love” and denied harming her baby.
Constance Marten, 36, and her 49-year-old partner, Mark Gordon, allegedly caused the death of their fifth child, Victoria, last year while on the run from police in the U.K. in the cold winter months of early 2023. Marten, whose family have been close to members of the British royal family, and Gordon both deny the charges against them, including manslaughter by gross negligence, concealing the birth of their child, and perverting the course of justice by hiding her body.
Prosecutors claim the pair caused Victoria’s death by living off the grid while authorities tried to find the family. Police had started a national search for the couple after a placenta was found in the burned-out shell of their car in northwest England on Jan. 5, 2023. Marten and Gordon went on the run and camped with their newborn in freezing conditions because they wanted to keep their child, prosecutors claim, after they had lost custody of all four of their other children.
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Speaking in a courtroom at London’s Old Bailey on Thursday, Marten insisted she had never done anything to harm Victoria. “I did nothing but show her love,” she told the court, according to Sky News. “I gave her the best [care] that anyone would have.”
Marten also told jurors of her “disbelief, shock, and intense grief” when Victoria died. “I don’t think it’s anything I will move on from,” she said. “I feel guilty because she was in my arms. I feel like it’s not an easy thing to live with.”
Police found the couple and arrested them on Feb. 27 last year. Days later, Victoria’s decomposed body was found in a shopping bag covered with garbage inside a shed in southeast England.
While an exact cause of death remains “unascertained,” jurors were told that the infant may have died as a result of cold temperatures or co-sleeping. Marten told police her baby died as Marten slept in the tent holding Victoria under her jacket.
