An expert has told jurors that it was “exceedingly unlikely” that fugitive mother Constance Marten’s newborn baby died from the cold.
Marten, 36, and her partner Mark Gordon, 49, were living “off grid” in a tent on the South Downs when their daughter Victoria died, the Old Bailey has been told.
In her evidence, Marten has said that the child died when she fell asleep while holding her under her jacket in the tent on Monday 9 January last year.
Victoria’s badly decomposed body was found inside a Lidl “bag for life” on an allotment shed in Brighton on Wednesday 1 March last year.
The cause of her death has remained unascertained.
Peter Fleming, an expert on infant health, considered the circumstances of how the baby died after hearing Marten’s account.
Giving evidence yesterday (Tuesday 26 March), the defence witness told jurors: “I have seen no evidence of hypothermia as a cause of death but the description of how the baby was being cared for would make hypothermia exceedingly unlikely.”
He added that the length of Victoria’s feet were “most compatible” with death occurring at the age of two to three weeks.
Tom Little, prosecuting, asked Professor Fleming in cross-examination if his opinion would change if he learned that Marten had lied to him about Victoria’s death.
Professor Fleming said Marten’s description had been “extraordinarily consistent”, saying: “My assumption is she is telling the truth unless there is evidence she is not.”
Mr Little said: “Has it crossed your mind that she might be responsible for the death of her baby?
Professor Fleming replied: “Of course I have but I’ve seen no evidence of that.”
The prosecutor said that the witness had not spoken to Gordon or seen CCTV footage of how the couple were treating Victoria before they went off to stay in a tent.
Neither had he not been present for all of Marten’s evidence in court, during which she had said nothing about Victoria’s hands and feet being warm, he said.
Mr Little went on: “Unlike a criminal trial, you do not challenge what you are told.”
Professor Fleming said that it would be “inappropriate” for him to do so.
