Wealthy aristocrat Constance Marten told jurors that she advised her partner to lie to police about being present when their baby daughter died because she thought they would “automatically blame him, being a black guy”.
Marten, 36, is on trial with her partner Mark Gordon, 49, over the death of their newborn daughter Victoria while on the run from the authorities together.
She said yesterday (Monday 25 March) that she and Gordon advised each other to lie to the police about the circumstances of their baby’s death to protect each other.
Victoria died while they were living “off grid” in a tent on the South Downs in and around the Brighton and Newhaven area in wintry conditions last year.
The court has heard how the defendants fled with the baby after their car burst into flames near Bolton, in Greater Manchester, on Thursday 5 January last year.
Marten said that her daughter died on Monday 9 January shortly after the couple went to live off grid.
She said that Gordon told her not to tell police that Victoria died while Marten was holding her in her sleep because police would “blame” her.
Marten said that she told Gordon to tell police that he was not there at the time.
Asked if she advised Gordon to lie to the police, she said: “Yes, I’m very protective over my husband because I feel that he gets blamed for everything.”
She added: “I thought they were going to automatically blame him, being a black guy, and I am the good one usually.”
Asked if it was fair to say that Gordon advised her to lie and she advised him to lie in order to protect each other, Marten said: “Yes.”
Marten told jurors that she was scared that the police were going to “pile up charges”.
She said:“That was my fear – that no matter how innocent I am they are just going to want to prosecute me.”
The court was also told that the defendant “keeled over” with exhaustion and fell asleep before her baby died. She said: “My body couldn’t take it any more. I literally shut down in that tent and keeled over.”
Marten insisted that Victoria was warm, fed and protected and added that she neglected taking care of herself because she was focused on her child.
Jurors were also told that Marten and Gordon discussed handing Victoria in to the authorities when she was alive.
She said that they decided to “save” her from being separated from them and, when they decided to live off grid, their aim was to go somewhere “for a day or two” to escape “prying eyes”.
Marten said: “We said that if we can’t find a house within the next day or two then we are probably going to have to hand Victoria in.”
She added that they “never intended” to live in a tent with their baby for months on end but said that she and Gordon lost their drive after their baby’s death.
She said: “After Victoria died we sort of lost all or our motive and drive because everything we were doing was for her.
“When she passed away, I think we both just sort of quit. We didn’t really have any drive after that.”
When they were arrested in Brighton on Monday 27 February last year, they refused to answer officers’ urgent questions about where their baby was and whether she was alive or dead.
Victoria’s remains were found by police in a Lidl “bag for life” inside a shed on a nearby allotment on Wednesday 1 March.
The defendants, of no fixed address, deny manslaughter by gross negligence, perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child, child cruelty and causing or allowing the death of a child.
Marten has finished giving evidence and the trial was due to continue at the Central Criminal Court – better known as the Old Bailey – today (Tuesday 26 March).
