By Emily Caulkett-
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon have been charged with the manslaughter of a baby girl called Victoria, a court has heard.
The child’s body was found wrapped in a plastic bag under some nappies in an unlocked shed near to where Constance Marten and Mark Gordon had been camping on an overgrown allotment plot in Brighton, Crawley Magistrates’ Court was told.
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Analysts believe Constance Marten’s baby could have been dead for at least two weeks, before she was discovered.
A post-mortem examination took place on Friday. The baby’s gender is yet to be established and police have said it is “too early” to determine an exact time of death.
Marten, 35, and Gordon, 48, were arrested on Stanmer Villas in Brighton, having been reported missing on January 5 after their car broke down near junction four of the M61, near Bolton. They then actively avoided authorities until their arrest – sleeping rough, and changing locations often. Their baby had gone without medical attention since its birth.
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Marten, who is from a wealthy family with royal links, has lived an isolated life with Gordon since they met in 2016. When Gordon was 15, he was arrested and found guilty of kidnap and sexual battery, and later sentenced to 20 years jail.
The Crown Prosecution Service said the aristocrat and Gordon are also accused of concealing the birth of a child and perverting the course of justice.
The aristocrat and her partner Mark Gordon were seen buying fish and chip as far back as February 11, and were not seen with their baby during their time in Brighton.
The couple were arrested on Monday in Brighton after avoiding police for more than seven weeks but the child was not with them.
They refused to tell police where the baby was, sparking a massive hunt across a wide area of the Sussex countryside.
A post-mortem examination held today was not able to establish a cause of death and further tests will take place.
The details were revealed during the pair’s first court appearance on Friday, during which a charge that they “unlawfully killed baby Victoria” was read out.
Marten, 35, and Gordon, 48, are also accused of concealing the birth of a child and perverting the course of justice.
During the hearing, the couple spoke only to confirm their names, dates of birth and that they were of no fixed address.
The pair were refused bail and remanded in custody until their next court appearance at the Old Bailey in central London on 31 March.
They had been missing since 5 January and were arrested in Brighton on Monday – and charged in the following days.
The vehicle had been doused in flames in a dramatic fire. The Peugeot was on the hard shoulder between junctions three and four near Farnworth. Crews used two hose reels, foam, and lighting equipment to put out the fire over 30 minutes. But the owner of the vehicle was not at the scene.
Crews discovered a placenta in the back seat of the charred vehicle. Police believe a baby was born in the car one or two days before.
On Wednesday, the Metropolitan Police had said they did not yet know the gender of the baby and that it “may have been dead for some time”.
A post-mortem examination is due to be carried out today to discover how the newborn died.
Essex Police took over the inquiry from GMP and scoured all of Colchester’s hotels and B&B’s after being tipped off that the couple and their child had stayed in one hotel under false names.
As the search drew a blank Mr Gordon, 48, was exposed as being a convicted sex offender. His conviction relates to a Florida attack on a woman in her early 20s when he was 14. He served 20 years in a US jail for rape and battery.
The couple have been together since 2016. But since that time Constance, 35, once a promising drama student, had no contact with her family. It was feared that due to her wealth, derived from her family’s land ownership, she was able to remain at on the run indefinitely.
Then Constance’s estranged father Napier Martin – who is a former page to the late Queen – appealed through The Independent for his daughter to let police know where she is ‘as soon as possible’.
Scotland Yard then became involved as the geography of search switched. The Met said that detectives from Essex Police established the trio took a taxi from Harwich to East Ham station on January 7th. While near Harwich port, Essex, Constance was seen appearing to carry the child under a bright red shawl.
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