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Taxi Driver Became Suspicious of Couple With Distressed Screaming Newborn Baby
Aristocrat Mum and Lover Used Trust Fund Payments to Pay £400 For 270 Mile Taxi Ride
Court Told Constance Marten and Her Lover Used Payments For Taxi Ride From Liverpool to Essex With Unclothed Newborn Baby, Screaming in Distress, After Their Car Was Found Ablaze
MailOnline 31 Jan, 2024
Aristocrat Constance Marten is said to have given birth in secret and decided to go 'off-grid'.
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon both deny manslaughter by gross negligence
Constance Marten 36, and Mark Gordon, 49, are accused of killing their newborn baby Victoria by taking her on the run to prevent her being taken away by social services.
The babys' placenta was found in an exploded car on the Manchester motorway - sparking a huge police hunt as the couple traversed the UK trying to find a port from which to escape, the Old Bailey heard.
The couple then spent nearly two months camping in a blue tent in the bitterly cold South Downs near Brighton before the baby, wearing only a onesie, allegedly froze to death.
Victoria was later found dead in the Lidl bag where prosecutors say she spent most of her life.
The couple met in 2016 and had four children in quick succession who were all taken into care after Marten gave birth to her first child using a fake Irish accent pretending to be a traveller, jurors have heard.
The couple deny the manslaughter of Victoria by gross negligence, concealment of the birth of a child, cruelty to a person under 16 and perverting the course of justice by disposing of the body.
Marten comes from a wealthy aristocratic family and her father was a page to Queen Elizabeth II.
The couple had escaped the burning car near Manchester at around 6pm, running up the muddy bank and climbing over a fence before dumping most of their belongings in a playing field, the court was told.
They then allegedly turned up outside the home of a man named Wai Wai Balash and asked for a lift.
In a statement read to court, Mr Balash said he came out of his home to take his son to football practice.
'I walked out and was shocked to see a lone female stood approximately five metres in front of my house. I could see she was carrying something in her hands.
He said Marten approached and said her car had broken down and asked for a lift to 'the nearest town.'
Gordon was standing further down the road under a street light, he said.
'It seemed to me she didn't know the area at all. She was very calm and confident.
'I thought it was strange the female was asking me for a lift and the male didn't speak.
'I saw the female had small baby in a blanket in her arms, I would say one or two months old at most.
'It was making noises throughout the journey but hadn't cried.'
He gave them a lift to Bolton town centre, where they asked where they could find hotels.
The couple then took a taxi from Bolton to Liverpool.
At 9pm, just three hours after leaving their burning vehicle the couple flagged down a taxi driven by Ali Yaryar.
Giving evidence by video link, Mr Yaryar said the first thing Marten did when she got into the car was ask him to put the heating on.
'She was cold, for that time of year she had not much clothes on. You could see she was shivering.'
Martens' brother Tobias Marten and mother Virginie de Selliers at the Old Bailey last Thursday
Marten asked to go to Harwich, Essex, which Mr Yaryar had not heard of so he asked her to put a postcode in his phone.
'I said this is a long journey - we go to Heathrow Airport from Liverpool for £500 but this is a quiet night - I can go there if you want for £400.'
He said he offered to drive home and change into his personal Audi vehicle which he said would be warmer and more comfortable.
He said he noticed Marten was hiding a baby under her jacket which she was breastfeeding during the journey.
He offered to get a car seat but Marten said the baby was too small.
Gordon paid him £400 in £20 notes. He said the baby was wearing no clothes except a nappy. Gordon slept while Marten also tried to sleep, he said. They arrived at Harwich around 2.15am.
'I think it was near the sea somewhere. I offered them my phone I said do you want to call anyone. They didn't know where they are.'
John Femi-Ola, KC, representing Gordon, suggested the baby did have clothing on but was being changed when Mr Yaryar saw her just in a nappy.
However, Mr Yaryar replied: 'I think the baby had no clothes.'
Marten received nearly £19,000 in payments into her account from a trust fund while she was on the run, the court heard.
Jurors were earlier told Marten and Gordon went to Liverpool and Harwich as they were looking for a port to escape from.
This afternoon, the court heard that the couple arrived at a Premier Inn in Harwich just after 3am on January 6 with their baby asking for a room claiming they had broken down.
They checked in using the surname 'Thomas' and appeared 'quite distressed'.
Receptionist Taylor Roy said: 'I asked whether she would need a cot set up and she said that wouldn't be necessary as the baby would be staying with her.'
When the card machine lit up, Marten said 'oh no, we've got to pay cash'.
The receptionist explained they had to check ID for anyone paying in cash.
He said: 'She said 'we don't have it, we don't have it' and looked as if she was going to cry.
'I suggested she could just stay in reception and she looked at me as if it was below her and said 'please can we just have a room.'
Marten said: 'Please, we don't have anywhere to go, or anything.'
He said as the couple seemed desperate and had a baby he decided to let them stay.
Marten then went outside to get Gordon, who walked through the lobby hiding his face, the court heard.
Rae Robson, who works at the hotel, told the court that Marten came downstairs at 12.20pm the next day, 20 minutes after check out time, and asked to extended their stay.
She said she asked Marten to pay by card or give ID but Marten said she didn't have any so she told them they could not stay and gave them ten minutes to leave the hotel.
After ten minutes she went with her manager to knock on the door, and Marten and Gordon came out.
'She had a big coat on and it seemed like something was underneath it,' Ms Robson said.
Ms Robson then went into the room and noticed a smell.
'A really, really bad smell almost like rotting flesh - if you know what piercings or infected piercings smell like it was that amplified.
'I couldn't stay in that room for very long, I had to go in, open the window and leave.'
The couple then went to another hotel the next night, where Gordon again stayed silent as Marten spoke to staff, the court was told.
Gordon attended court today wearing a light blue shirt and tie while Marten was not in court but the jury was told a link was available for her to join.
The wealthy family lived at Dorset estate Crichel House during Marten's youth and her grandmother was a playmate of Princess Margaret and goddaughter to the Queen Mother.
Marten and Gordon deny manslaughter by gross negligence, concealment of the birth of a child, cruelty to a person under 16 and perverting the course of justice.
They also deny causing or allowing the death of a child. The charges date between January 4 and February 27, 2023. The trial is set to last six weeks.
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