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

[Cardgame]

Didn't they say the next thing up in the trial would be CM's arrest video?

Wonder why we have moved on to new witnesses?

 

[dotr]

Pot calling the kettle black, imo.

Jury in Constance Marten and Mark Gordon trial shown how police found baby

Constance Marten and Mark Gordon deny the manslaughter of Victoria, whose body was found in a shed.

www.bbc.com

Feb 14 2024 rbbm
''In his interviews at Worthing police station, Mark Gordon also did not answer any questions, but told the detectives repeatedly that he was in pain.

He got out of the wheelchair - police body-worn video pictures show he was found walking with a large branch when arrested - and sat on the floor in the interviewing room saying: "My legs are hurting…I'm in pain."

The interview resumed after he went to the bathroom, and he told officers: "I am experiencing pain and you are asking questions.

"I'm getting sub-par treatment. I don't think I should be talked to like I am a nobody."

At one point a detective said to him: "What was the baby's name?" But Mr Gordon did not answer.

Baby Victoria's body was found under some rubbish in a Lidl "bag for life" in a shed on the afternoon of 1 March.''

 

[Nikynoo]

Didn't they say the next thing up in the trial would be CM's arrest video?

Wonder why we have moved on to new witnesses?

was that not shown last week? There was a new podcast yesterday and it has the arrests and bodycam.

 

[Zuleika]

was that not shown last week? There was a new podcast yesterday and it has the arrests and bodycam.

Yes it was iirc .

 

[InstantCoffee]

Well this afternoon's evidence is quite disturbing. The officer who found 'Baby Marten' as she was referred to in court has said, 'There was a pink balled up bloody blanket'... who's blood are we to assume that is? Death by suffocation does not produce bleeding. And I'm no expert, but I don't think decomposition does either, but perhaps someone more knowledgeable can comment on that?

The Agos commenting is then very unclear but says, 'A couple of seconds after we went to the other side of the bag. I put my hand down and it slipped. I looked in and that was the baby's leg. My hand was soaking wet. The baby was pale and cold to the touch' I can't work out if this is a gruesome outcome from bad decomposition or something else? It throws up more questions than it answers. It's shocking either way.

And the detritus found in the bag with her - just unfathomable. Two items also jumped out at me - a can of Bud (I thought they were supposed to be tea total?) and 2 Hollingbury Golf Course score cards? Why on earth? Immediately made me think of the hoarding tendencies which have been ruminated on before.

 

[rockthecasbah]

Horrible. I agree about the score cards, I don't see how they are useful to them in any way unless fuel for a bonfire? Not worth keeping anyway

 

[Obergine]

I am finding it difficult to summons any empathy for them anymore on reading the detail of this. As you say @InstantCoffee, unfathomable...

 

[Cardgame]

Yes it was iirc .

Only briefly.

I was under the impression that there was an extended bodycam of CM's arrest that was up next.

I haven't heard the new trial podcast but it can't cover today in court, which is the time the footage was (IMO) due to be shown.

Was it shown this morning in court during the newspaper's "technical difficulties"?

I hope the jury got to see it. I thought the footage of MG was pretty damning, it would not seem fair if the same amount of footage of CM was held back for some reason.

 

[Cardgame]

Just posting this from the Argus for ref:

2:55pm

Contents of the bag for life​

The court has heard evidence about the contents of the bag for life in which baby Victoria was found.

Items found in the Lidl bag for life include: A black blanket, a can of Budweiser, two Coke cans, two unused nappies, two Hollingbury Golf Club scorecards, a baby grow, a pink sheet wrapped around body of baby Marten, a glass water bottle of petrol, a pink baby vest, a WH Smith bag, several pages of The Sun dated January 12.

 

[Alyce]

Just posting this from the Argus for ref:

2:55pm

Contents of the bag for life​

The court has heard evidence about the contents of the bag for life in which baby Victoria was found.

Items found in the Lidl bag for life include: A black blanket, a can of Budweiser, two Coke cans, two unused nappies, two Hollingbury Golf Club scorecards, a baby grow, a pink sheet wrapped around body of baby Marten, a glass water bottle of petrol, a pink baby vest, a WH Smith bag, several pages of The Sun dated January 12.

I have only just read this.

When Victoria was found, media reports said her body was found underneath a pile of nappies.
I did not realise she was actually placed inside the same bag as the rubbish.

How absolutely despicable are these two accused people. I hope the Jury feel the same.

 

[Pidgy]

Didn't they say the next thing up in the trial would be CM's arrest video?

Wonder why we have moved on to new witnesses?

Possibly because of witness availability issues. It's not unusual for either side not to be able to call their witnesses in the anticipated or most preferred order.

If I were a juror, the questions I'd want to know the answers to today include:

* whose shed is it?
* whose blood was on the blanket in the bag?

That several pages of a newspaper of 12 January were found in the bag with the body supports (although clearly doesn't prove) CM's statement that Victoria died the previous day.

 

[Obergine]

IMO, if there were items from the 12th January Newhaven purchase in the bag 'on top' of poor V then this suggests she had already died before that pit stop...

 

[Alyce]

Only briefly.

I was under the impression that there was an extended bodycam of CM's arrest that was up next.

I haven't heard the new trial podcast but it can't cover today in court, which is the time the footage was (IMO) due to be shown.

Was it shown this morning in court during the newspaper's "technical difficulties"?

I hope the jury got to see it. I thought the footage of MG was pretty damning, it would not seem fair if the same amount of footage of CM was held back for some reason.

Just came up about 15 mins ago






3:48pm

Jury to be shown police interview of Marten​

The jury will be shown the police interviewing Marten after baby Victoria was found.

Recap after jury shown police bodycam of moment baby found in Lidl bag in shed

Live updates as the trial of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon continues.

www.theargus.co.uk

 

[Pidgy]

Didn't they say the next thing up in the trial would be CM's arrest video?

Wonder why we have moved on to new witnesses?

Possibly because of witness availability issues. It's not unusual for either side not to be able to call their witnesses in the anticipated or most preferred order.

If I were a juror, the questions I'd want to know the answers to today include:

* whose shed is it?
* whose blood was on the blanket in the bag?

That several pages of a newspaper of 12 January were found in the bag with the body supports CM's statement that Victoria died the previous day. (It doesn't prove it, but the defence don't have to prove anything.)

 

[Obergine]

Multiple postings just appeared for me there... we're all thinking the same!

 

[Skigh]

Constance Marten's boyfriend claimed he was being treated like a 'dog'

Mark Gordon (pictured) said he was 'in pain' and demanded 'pills' as officers questioned him and about the whereabouts of his missing child in the hours before the newborn 's body was found.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Early the following morning, on March 1, 2023, at 12.27am, Gordon, who had been kept in Worthing police station, was interviewed again.

He attended the interview in a wheelchair but as the officer was explaining the purpose of the interview Gordon climbed out of the chair and lay on the floor.

The officer told him to get back into the chair but he refused, saying he was in pain and, and asked to be given something for it.

He said: 'I am in pain. I can't focus on what you are taking about. I have changed positions because of the pain. Maybe a nurse can give me something.'

The officer replied that he had already seen the nurse and she had decided nothing was wrong with him.



Marten, who was being held in Brighton Custody Suite, was approached by officers in her cell at 1.50am on February 28, 2023.

They asked her whether she was prepared to speak to them without a solicitor.

She replied: 'I haven't eaten or slept for a long time. I need to get some sleep before I can make a proper decision.'

Officers returned at 3.48am with a solicitor, and asked her about where she had been staying, where she was going when they arrested her, and whether her child was till alive.

They also said: 'We are going to give you a final opportunity for the sake of your child, please tell us more.'

However she answered 'no comment' to all questions.

She was interviewed again later that day, at 10.08pm, and was asked repeatedly about her child.

At one point the officer asked: 'If you are not willing to tell us where the child is, please, if we show you a map, draw a circle and say it's in that location.'

Again Marten answered 'no comment' to all questions.

 

[Alyce]

snipped by me for focus ....





Gordon asked for pills and said he was in “distress” before continuing: “I am the detainee.

“I feel like I’m scum.

Jurors shown shocking moment police uncover Constance Marten's baby

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT The remains of baby Victoria were found in the supermarket bag in a disused allotment in Sussex

www.standard.co.uk

 

[Pidgy]

CM was represented today by a new KC, Francis FitzGibbon.

Is she falling out with barristers, or is she hiring the best specialists in specific aspects of legal conflict? That may sound like a silly question given that chopping and changing for that reason doesn't happen, and furthermore she's on legal aid, but then not many of us come from families with £115m.

Perhaps this is more likely than her saying things that leave them professionally unable to continue, which I could imagine happening once but not multiple times, unless she is a fool who keeps doing the same thing and hoping that next time the result will be different.

Hmmm... Now I'm thinking...

 

[Alyce]

Number 5 ?



Marten was previously represented by John Ryder, KC, who had only attended the trial for one day in person, but was today represented by a new barrister Francis FitzGibbon, KC

Her junior barrister Tom Godfrey, who has been attending the trial, remains on the case.

Constance Marten's boyfriend claimed he was being treated like a 'dog'

Mark Gordon (pictured) said he was 'in pain' and demanded 'pills' as officers questioned him and about the whereabouts of his missing child in the hours before the newborn 's body was found.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Skigh]

Number 5 ?



Marten was previously represented by John Ryder, KC, who had only attended the trial for one day in person, but was today represented by a new barrister Francis FitzGibbon, KC

Her junior barrister Tom Godfrey, who has been attending the trial, remains on the case.

Constance Marten's boyfriend claimed he was being treated like a 'dog'

Mark Gordon (pictured) said he was 'in pain' and demanded 'pills' as officers questioned him and about the whereabouts of his missing child in the hours before the newborn 's body was found.

www.dailymail.co.uk

I wonder if that was the reason the court did not sit on Monday and Tuesday.