UK - Constance Marten & Mark Gordon charged, Newborn (found deceased), Bolton Greater Manchester, 5 Jan 2023 #6

[Henrymoggington]

From the link above

her family. She had cut them out of her life around two years before the couple had met.


So not blaming MG for the family rift then ? If she's been estranged since 2012

Her FB profile suggests she was still in contact till 2015 IMO

 

[Alyce]

11:59AM

Constance Marten says she was ‘trailed by private detectives’​

Moving onto the birth of her first child in 2017 in Wales, Miss Marten was asked why she was in that part of the country at the time.
She replied: “I was trying to flee my family, I have spoken about a traumatic event involving one of my family members.”
She told the jury that there had been a dispute about her grandmother’s will and around that time she discovered she was being “trailed by private detectives”.
“I did not think it was fair for my child to live under those conditions,” she said.
“I wanted to bring up my oldest child in a happy home without the constant surveillance of my family.”

Access Restricted

 

[InstantCoffee]

She replied: “I was trying to flee my family, I have spoken about a traumatic event involving one of my family members.”

Do we know what she's talking about here?

 

[rockthecasbah]

From The Argus blog

Marten in tears in the dock​

Marten began to cry in the dock when asked if she had ever done anything to harm her four previous children.


"Absolutely not, and that is the sad thing.


"I love our kids more than anything else and I am pretty angry that they are having to go through this."


Mr Fitzgibbon said: "At the start of this trial it was said that you put your own interests above your children's?"


Marten said: "No. there is literally nothing I wouldn’t do for my children."

Recap after Constance Marten gives evidence in trial

Updates from the Old Bailey as the trial of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon continues

www.theargus.co.uk

BBM - again, it's never her fault

This makes me so angry. Every single bit of it is their fault. Those children deserved to be safe and cared for.

 

[Alyce]

From The Argus

12:05pm

Marten on her relationship with Gordon​

Marten told the court: "I met him 2014, in a shop actually.
"It was a little Indian shop where they sell incense and things like that. I knew the shopkeeper.
"There was a lady in the shop who had left her handbag there and the shopkeeper asked me to watch that guy over there? We sort of laughed about it.
"We went to a coffee shop. We were good friends at the start.
"We went to Peru together. We got married over there but it is not recognised over here. A Peruvian wedding ceremony, but it was not legally binding. I believe this was 2016."

Recap after Constance Marten gives evidence in trial

Updates from the Old Bailey as the trial of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon continues

www.theargus.co.uk

 

[rightsaidfred]

From the Telegraph article

"She said after university she had worked as a researcher for the Al Jazeera news channel and had also worked as a nanny and as a photographer."

Worked as a nanny. WTF!

I wonder how that worked out for her. It would be fascinating if the family she nannies for were called as defence witnesses...

 

[Alyce]

She replied: “I was trying to flee my family, I have spoken about a traumatic event involving one of my family members.”

Do we know what she's talking about here?

She said she split from family in 2012 ( 2 years before she met MG ).
The family estate was sold off in 2013 - maybe there was some drama or trauma connected to that ?

 

[Alyce]

Argus reporting has picked up !

12:07pm

Marten 'tried to flee' her family​

Mr Fitzgibbon is guiding Marten through a timeline of events leading up to the case in question.
Mr Fitzgibbon told the court: "In June 2017, you were six months pregnant. You hadn’t had any antenatal care and said you and Gordon had been living in a nearby campervan.
"In the winter of 2017, you went to a hospital in Carmathenshire and gave a name of Isabelle O’Brien.
"What were you doing in Wales?"
Marten said: "I was trying to flee my family. I had spoken out about a childhood traumatic event against one of my family members and also the sale of my grandmother’s estate.
"Her will was gotten rid of [sic] and they used a letter of wishes to get rid of her estate, which was against her wishes. I started speaking out about it.
"That was when I realised I was being trailed by investigators heavily and I didn’t think it was fair to bring up my child like that.

Recap after Constance Marten gives evidence in trial

Updates from the Old Bailey as the trial of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon continues

www.theargus.co.uk

 

[rockthecasbah]

From The Argus

12:05pm

Marten on her relationship with Gordon​

Marten told the court: "I met him 2014, in a shop actually.
"It was a little Indian shop where they sell incense and things like that. I knew the shopkeeper.
"There was a lady in the shop who had left her handbag there and the shopkeeper asked me to watch that guy over there? We sort of laughed about it.
"We went to a coffee shop. We were good friends at the start.
"We went to Peru together. We got married over there but it is not recognised over here. A Peruvian wedding ceremony, but it was not legally binding. I believe this was 2016."

Recap after Constance Marten gives evidence in trial

Updates from the Old Bailey as the trial of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon continues

www.theargus.co.uk

So she doesn't know when her baby died, and she doesn't know what year she got married? No grasp on reality.

 

[Nikynoo]

t

11:57AM

Constance Marten felt ‘guilty’ when baby died​

Constance Marten told jurors she did not expose her baby to cold or allow her to get too hot so far as she was aware.
Mr FitzGibbon said: “So far as you are concerned, did you give her anything less than the proper care you thought she deserved?”
Marten replied: “I gave her the best that any mother would, yeah.”
She told jurors Victoria died last January 9, saying: “I do not think it is anything I will ever move on from.”
She said she felt “guilty”, adding: “I think initially it was disbelief, shock, intense grief.”

Access Restricted

Thanks @Alyce , it looks like the Telegraph is a better source for live reporting.

 

[DianaWW]

"She's standing behind a wooden rail having a conversation with a chap in a wig, while another chap in a wig sitting higher up seems to be writing things down."

Sorry for the attempt at humour, but I am torn between being grateful to the Argus for having reported live what the national press haven't, and wanting to lampoon their court reporter for seemingly not knowing the difference between the dock and the witness box, an error that has been made in the Argus at least twice now.

I just hope we have some good reporting of the closing speeches and the judge's summing up.

I totally agree. Hardly any detail about the evidence given, but they did tell us that she is wearing her hair half up with a claw clip....you have to laugh!

Thank you so much @Alyce for sharing the Telegraph link, that is much better!

 

[Alyce]

12:09PM

Marten gave false name to hospital, court told​

Miss Marten described how she had been in receipt of a regular income but that had stopped before she gave birth.
“I was eight and a half months pregnant and they cut me off overnight,” she said.
The court was told Miss Marten had given a false name to the hospital when she gave birth.
Asked why she had done that, she admitted it had been “naive” but said she thought it was the only way to avoid her family.
“I would do anything to protect my child,” she said.

Access Restricted

 

[Alyce]

Short break - Court not me !

 

[Alyce]

t

Thanks @Alyce , it looks like the Telegraph is a better source for live reporting.

I totally agree. Hardly any detail about the evidence given, but they did tell us that she is wearing her hair half up with a claw clip....you have to laugh!

Thank you so much @Alyce for sharing the Telegraph link, that is much better!

Telegraph seems better but Argus is picking up now with some more details

 

[Nikynoo]

Her FB profile suggests she was still in contact till 2015 IMO

To be fair, we do not know who it was in her family, she was estranged from, she suggest's 'wider family' and also discusses that she has disclosed to the court what that was (or did I read that incorrectly). If it was around 2012, I would hazard a guess that it was the transfer of the estate to her brother and its subsequent sale of the house (both occurred 2011-2013), or possibly the grandmothers will issue, or both.

Note, that CM is the eldest of the three children and so perhaps she thought the estate should pass to her?

 

[Alyce]

12:15PM

Marten says she ‘bet with the devil’ by asking for social services’ help​

The court was told that prior to her giving birth, Constance Marten had been living in a tent.
But asked by her defence counsel Francis FitzGibbon KC if she had intended to live in the tent after the birth, she replied: “Absolutely not.”
She said she had asked social services for help but said she regretted doing so.
“I feel like I made a bet with the devil because I asked for social services help and I think that was the worst decision because from my perspective, having gone through social services I do not believe they are there to support parents or children,” she said.

Access Restricted

 

[Alyce]

To be fair, we do not know who it was in her family, she was estranged from, she suggest's 'wider family' and also discusses that she has disclosed to the court what that was (or did I read that incorrectly). If it was around 2012, I would hazard a guess that it was the transfer of the estate to her brother and its subsequent sale of the house (both occurred 2011-2013), or possibly the grandmothers will issue, or both.

Note, that CM is the eldest of the three children and so perhaps she thought the estate should pass to her?

I have often wondered that - if she felt some anger at being passed over, because she was female. Particularly ironic when the money/estate actually came from a female ancestor in the first place.

She is eldest of 4 - has three brothers.

 

[Nikynoo]

Telegraph seems better but Argus is picking up now with some more details

perhaps the Argus is reading here and realise that they have 'live' competition!

 

[Alyce]

12:18pm

Jury shown photographs of Marten and children​

The jury has been shown images of Marten and one of her other children.

Recap after Constance Marten gives evidence in trial

Updates from the Old Bailey as the trial of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon continues

www.theargus.co.uk

 

[InstantCoffee]

12:15PM

Marten says she ‘bet with the devil’ by asking for social services’ help​

The court was told that prior to her giving birth, Constance Marten had been living in a tent.
But asked by her defence counsel Francis FitzGibbon KC if she had intended to live in the tent after the birth, she replied: “Absolutely not.”
She said she had asked social services for help but said she regretted doing so.
“I feel like I made a bet with the devil because I asked for social services help and I think that was the worst decision because from my perspective, having gone through social services I do not believe they are there to support parents or children,” she said.

JMO but there seems to be a rather a lot of Poor Little Rich Girl going on here. CM says that she asked SS for help around the time of her first child's birth and had no intention of living in a tent afterwards. This is when she hoped (under a false name) they would provide her with accommodation. Presumably this is because she claims her family cut her off financially overnight. I get the feeling (JMO) that it's all SS fault for not giving her a home or her family's fault for cutting of her money. No talk of taking any responsibility for herself or working things out like everybody else has to in the real world!