UK - Constance Marten & Mark Gordon charged, Newborn (found deceased), Bolton Greater Manchester, 5 Jan 2023 #4

[JumpingFrog]

subtle but interesting image isnt it

plus the line about there being a link available if she wants to join…makes her sound like a guest …rather than a person on trial

just editing to add….
CM is also being referred to as the second defendant.
I have never heard this term used in any other multiple defendant trial

Maybe there is concern about possible contempt of court? Since in hearings CM and MG have talked together, blown kisses etc...

 

[rockthecasbah]

Somewhere it's been said she went back but they wouldn't let her back in because she had refused a Covid jab .

Covid test, not vaccination. She would rather refuse a test than see her baby. Disgusting.

 

[Nikynoo]

She lost that representation allegedly as the trust fund wouldn't pay the fee. It was subsequently reported that she's represented by Mr Philip Sapsford on Legal Aid. One assumes that is still the case, however, it may not be.

Constance Marten lover Mark Gordon demands to appear in dock with her

Mark Gordon, 48, and Constance Marten, 35, sparked a huge UK police hunt after they went on the run with their new born baby in January this year.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Junior counsel for CM is there. His surname escapes me, but his first name is Tom.

ETA Tom Godfrey Constance Marten and Mark Gordon say baby girl died after 16 days, court hears | UK news | The Guardian

 

[JennieM]

CCTV shows aristocrat Constance Marten and her lover strolling in to bus station on frigid January night 'with the naked newborn daughter they are accused of killing hidden up her coat' after their car went up in flames on M61​

Dog walker tells Constance Marten's trial how aristocrat was 'scared'

Marten , 36, and her partner 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.

www.dailymail.co.uk

[Video at link]

 

[Alyce]

Some new photos in this article

Dog walker tells Constance Marten's trial how aristocrat was 'scared'

Marten , 36, and her partner 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.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[JennieM]

New video released by police shows the couple strolling into Bolton bus interchange as Marten appears to be concealing the newborn beneath her puffer jacket


A pictures shows the inside of the couple's burnt out car. The baby's placenta was found in the vehicle, the Old Bailey heard


The couple's burnt out car on the M61. The car was found burning on the M61 near Manchester



An image dated January 5, 2023 from the Metropolitan Police of Mark Gordon and Constance Marten's burning Peugeot 206 on the M61, which was played in court during their trial

Dog walker tells Constance Marten's trial how aristocrat was 'scared'

Marten , 36, and her partner 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.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[JTT]

I wonder what's in the notebooks found in the field by the M61. If not evidential or potentially so, they should have been returned to the defendants; otherwise, copied to the defence. Might contain a record of the pregnancy, labour, and aftermath, so they could make decisions and also so they could brief a medic in a safe country had they reached one. Or a more general journal. Total speculation.

 

[CaptainNancy]

Wrt the smell: as far as we know they had not been in any accommodation between the holiday cottage and the Premier Inn. The driver of the Suzuki’s recovery vehicle said the windows were covered in fabric. So if they had been living in a car between 28th Dec and 6th Jan I would think they both stank!

 

[CaptainNancy]

We haven’t (yet) heard how or where they acquired the Peugeot have we?

 

[JennieM]

Constance Marten trial: Baby wearing only a nappy on cold night, court told​

Constance Marten trial: Baby wearing only a nappy on cold night, court told

Ms Marten and Mr Gordon are accused of the manslaughter of Victoria, whose body was found in a shed.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[JennieM]

Constance Marten trial: baby wore only a nappy on freezing night, court hears​

Marten and her partner, Mark Gordon, took a long taxi ride through the night to evade authorities, an Old Bailey jury is told

Constance Marten trial: baby wore only a nappy on freezing night, court hears

Marten and her partner, Mark Gordon, took a long taxi ride through the night to evade authorities, an Old Bailey jury is told

www.theguardian.com

 

[JTT]

The case for a reporting ban builds...

This is a headline in the Daily Mirror:

"Constance Marten: Baby ‘screamed in distress’ as fugitive parents refused help, court hears".

The "help" that was "refused" was (allegedly) Mr Gosling's offer to take them to hospital.

"Mr Gosling said he offered to take the couple home with him, give them a cup of tea and then take them to hospital. He added he felt it was the “morally correct thing to do”. He stressed to the couple his concern was for the well-being of the baby and not about anything they had done, the court was told. Gordon just “fobbed” him off, the witness said."

...

"Challenged on if it was a Lidl bag he had seen the couple with, Mr Gosling said he shopped there rather than another supermarket like Waitrose."

Baby ‘screamed in distress’ as fugitive parents refused help, court hears

Constance Marten, 36, and partner Mark Gordon, 49, turned down the help of a stranger who had just watched about them on television, a trial at the Old Bailey heard

www.mirror.co.uk

 

[Twittens]

View attachment 478864
New video released by police shows the couple strolling into Bolton bus interchange as Marten appears to be concealing the newborn beneath her puffer jacket

View attachment 478866
A pictures shows the inside of the couple's burnt out car. The baby's placenta was found in the vehicle, the Old Bailey heard

View attachment 478867
The couple's burnt out car on the M61. The car was found burning on the M61 near Manchester


View attachment 478868
An image dated January 5, 2023 from the Metropolitan Police of Mark Gordon and Constance Marten's burning Peugeot 206 on the M61, which was played in court during their trial

Dog walker tells Constance Marten's trial how aristocrat was 'scared'

Marten , 36, and her partner 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.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Am I the only one who finds the pictures of the burned out car utterly shocking? When the original news story broke about the car and the placenta, I was imagining something much milder.

I find it puzzling too. How did the placenta escape being completely incinerated, when you look at how totally the upholstery of both front seats has been destroyed?

The shot seems to be taken across the back seat from offside to nearside. You can see the burnt out frames of the seats - driver's seat still in place, passenger seat tipped forward, passenger door open.

Assuming the pixelled-out bit is the placenta, is that a laptop beneath it, still protected by the cardboard delivery packaging? How is that not burned to a cinder too?

All I can think of is that they originally salvaged them from the car but then decided they couldn't carry them and put them back into the smoking remains of the car. Is that plausible? I've got no idea how fast a car fire ignites and then subsides, or whether anything's known about how long they stayed nearby.

I can't see how anything in there wasn't totally destroyed.

JMO

 

[ShadowPuppet]

We do know that CM and MG had voluntarily relinquished a previous child though.

"The couple had also previously abandoned another baby in hospital shortly after Marten gave birth, jurors were told."

Constance Marten told police baby died when she fell asleep with her

She did leave them at the hospital. What we don’t know is the circumstances, yet (I don’t think?). Babies have been left before and then parents have returned to attend contact sessions and have them returned (or not, depending). Equally, some parents leave prior to the baby’s removal when the court order is given. I’ve also known it happen due to MH reasons or for parents to satisfy an addiction or because they’ve put a domestic abuser above the baby. But yes, that particular situation is a relatively unusual factor and not a hugely common one. At the point of abandonment, as far as I’m aware, it’s not technically relinquishing as the legal process hasn’t been set out.

My sister (also adopted) was also left in the hospital. It took SS a long time to track down her birth mother in order for her to make a decision and sign legal documents. She did attend a contact session after this, but ultimately relinquished her. However, relinquishment was more common then.

I do agree that by not appearing it could give the indication MG is the one on trial. Terribly sad quote from Dan Gosling The smell comments while Victoria was alive are concerning, I hope it’s nothing more sinister than poor hygiene/post partum and a possible health condition in one of the adults.

 

[Skigh]

Somewhere it's been said she went back but they wouldn't let her back in because she had refused a Covid jab .

Not a jab,a test

 

[Lolabear]

Looking at the photo in the bus station I'm surprised the poor baby wasn't suffocated to death as her coat is totally zipped up with nowhere for air for the poor thing

 

[JennieM]

Looking at the photo in the bus station I'm surprised the poor baby wasn't suffocated to death as her coat is totally zipped up with nowhere for air for the poor thing

Thought exactly the same.

 

[Cartie]

IMO I don't think they were on the run to keep the baby, I don't think they cared about poor Victoria same way they easily abandoned their 4th child.
I'm assuming they paid by card for the lodge, it wasn't until someone recognised them that they realised there was police and media campaign to find them, only then did they lived more off the grid.

 

[CaptainNancy]

Looking at the photo in the bus station I'm surprised the poor baby wasn't suffocated to death as her coat is totally zipped up with nowhere for air for the poor thing

Which potentially supports CM’s claim that Victoria died when she fell asleep and leaned forwards over her: doubly dangerous if the baby was trapped inside her jacket.

CM must have been exhausted, having given birth and then lived in a car and travelling about through the night.

 

[Skigh]

The think that surprised me was that they had no possessions yet it has been reported they abandoned things in a field. Surely they could have rescued a few important items .