Runaway aristocrat with royal hyperlinks ‘thought-about cremating lifeless child with petrol’

An aristocrat and her companion who saved their child in a Lidl bag earlier than dumping her “like refuse” thought-about “cremating” her after shopping for petrol, a court docket has heard.

Constance Marten, 36, and Mark Gordon, 49, allegedly saved the delivery of their little one a secret after she fell pregnant in early 2022. Little Victoria was then taken on the run by the pair to cease her from being taken away from them, a court docket has been informed.

The Old Bailey heard they stayed in a “thin and flimsy” tent within the depths of winter whereas on the run. Before she died, the child allegedly “spent much of her life” in a Lidl bag.

She was later discovered lifeless in a service bag coated in garbage in an deserted shed like “refuse” and it has now emerged that Marten introduced petrol to an allotment as she contemplated “cremating” her lifeless child, a court docket heard.

The aristocrat is on trial alongside companion Mark Gordon charged with the manslaughter of their child lady Victoria by gross negligence. Both mother and father deny the cost, alongside little one cruelty and different prices.

The Mirror reported that the court docket heard how Marten informed police she had fallen asleep holding her daughter, waking to search out she was not alive. “I wanted to turn myself in at the time, I’ve been debating it, obviously it’s two months later now,” she informed detectives.

Marten informed police she saved the child’s physique as a result of she needed to have a autopsy examination achieved.

“I don’t know if you found, there’s a bottle of petroleum in the bag because I debated whether to cremate her myself, get rid of the evidence, but I decided to keep her because I knew at some point in the future I was going to be asked about it, but I just didn’t know what to do,” she added.

She informed officers they ran away with the child after their automobile “exploded” assuming that police would take their daughter away, after which determined to “remove ourselves from society” when individuals began to recognise them on the streets.

The couple, of no mounted handle, deny manslaughter by gross negligence of the lady between January 4 and February 27 final 12 months. They are additionally charged with perverting the course of justice, concealing the delivery of a kid, little one cruelty, and inflicting or permitting the demise of a kid.

The trial, anticipated to go on till March 8, continues on Friday.