Moment Constance Marten ‘walks into bus station with naked baby under her jacket’ | UK | News
Constance Marten was captured on CCTV as she walked into a bus station hiding her naked newborn child under her coat.
Cameras captured the moment the aristocrat, 36 and her lover, Mark Gordon, 49, walked into Bolton bus interchange while on the run with their newborn baby girl, Victoria.
The two are accused of killing the baby girl, who was found dead on March 1, 2023, several days after they were arrested on February 27 following an eight-week-long manhunt.
The new footage shown to jurors at their trial, which is being held at the Old Bailey, shows the couple at the early stages of the search on January 5. Marten can be seen walking into the bus interchange with her hands around her belly, allegedly holding the young child under her coat.
Taxi driver Ali Yaryar told the court via video link this week that he picked up Ms Marten and her partner on January 5.
He said he was flagged down by a man and woman while driving in Liverpool and asked to travel to Harwich, a “long journey” he told them he was prepared to make for £400.
He said Ms Marten was carrying Victoria in her jacket when he picked the couple up and that the child was “too small” to use a car seat.
Jurors heard that, earlier the same day, the Peugeot the couple was driving had caught fire on the M61 in Greater Manchester.
The court heard that the couple was able to catch a lift into Bolton, where the CCTV shows Marten allegedly carrying Victoria under her jacket.
Mr Yaryar told prosecutor Joel Smith that he noticed the couple were “hiding something” and added: “There is a baby there inside the jacket.”
He added: “She was holding it, and I asked ‘Do you have a baby there?’ and she said ‘Yes'”.
When asked what the baby was wearing, the driver said: “I didn’t see very well. The baby had no clothes on except a nappy.”
Mr Yaryar said he later accepted their fare of £400 upfront and dropped them in Harwich without, he observed, bags or a phone.
He realised the couple were Marten and Gordon a few days later when he saw coverage of the missing persons in a news article.
On top of manslaughter, the couple are also accused of cruelty to their baby; concealment of the baby’s birth; causing or allowing her death; and perverting the course of justice by concealing the body.