By Arthur Parashar. Jurors have been shown the first footage of a newborn baby whose body was later found inside a Lidl 'bag for life' after her aristocrat mother and partner went on the run. Constance Marten , 36, and Mark Gordon, 49, are accused of causing the death of baby Victoria by living in a tent 'off grid' in the middle of winter so she would not be taken away from them by social services.
A placenta was found in a burnt-out car on a Manchester motorway on January 5 sparking a huge police hunt as the couple traversed the country trying to find an escape route from the UK, the Old Bailey has heard. The defendants spent hundreds of pounds on taxis taking them from the North West to Essex and on to east London. Last February, the couple were arrested in East Sussex and the body of baby Victoria was found in a Lidl supermarket bag covered in rubbish inside a disused shed after she allegedly froze to death.
Previously, CCTV of the couple appeared to show a bulge where the baby had been bundled up beneath Marten's coat and wrapped in a blanket or towel. However, jurors were today shown footage of the tragic newborn for the first time as her parents, wrapped in huge jackets and hoodies, transported her around the UK in a babygrow on January 7 Jurors saw Victoria being lifted out of a taxi by the aristocrat and her lover before they sat down in a kebab shop and placed her in a large buggy.
Jurors were shown little Victoria's face centre for the first time as her parents Constance Marten right and Mark Gordon left sat inside a kebab shop. In other footage, Marten is seen keeping the baby under her coat before unzipping it and exposing her. Jurors were told the couple went on to Whitechapel pictured where Gordon bought a tent at Argos before heading to Newhaven in East Sussex.
Constance Marten left , 36, and Mark Gordon right , 49, are accused of causing the death of baby Victoria. She told the court she could not take them on to London. Mr Palcu said: 'The female told me to pull over as we needed to pick her husband up from the Castle Pub. He unzipped his jacket, took a baby out and handed it to the female. On arriving at East Ham, video shows Gordon passing the tiny baby out of another cab to Marten, who was standing near the door holding a Lidl bag.
