Aristocrat Constance Marten, 36, and partner, 49, face two new charges after death of their newborn baby
10 July 2023, 16:19 | Updated: 10 July 2023, 16:20
Constance Marten, and her partner Mark Gordon face two new offences after they were charged with the manslaughter of their daughter earlier this year.
Constance Marten, 36, and Mark Gordon, 49, were charged with the manslaughter of their baby, named Victoria, on March 2 after she was found dead in Brighton after a two-day search.
They were also handed charges of concealing a child’s birth and perverting the course of justice.
But it emerged on Monday ahead of a hearing at the Old Bailey that both the defendants face two new charges, one of causing or allowing the death of a child and another of causing child cruelty.
The pair have been accused of causing the baby's death by their own "unlawful act" or failing to "take such steps as could reasonably have been expected" to protect the baby.
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Victoria's remains were found in a plastic bag in a locked shed in an overgrown allotment in Hollingbury, east Sussex, after Marten and Gordon were arrested.
Police had been searching across the country for the pair's whereabouts for several weeks, with the couple eventually arrested at the end of February.
The offences are believed to have occurred between January 4 and February 27.
Both appeared from custody before Judge Mark Lucraft KC on Monday by video link, but only spoke to confirm their identities.
An initial post-mortem examination was unable to establish a cause of death for Victoria.
No pleas have been entered but Judge Lucraft confirmed a provisional trial has been set for January 2 next year.
Aged 35, Constance, is from a high status family with her father being a page to Queen Elizabeth II and grandmother Mary Anna Marten was the goddaughter of the late Queen Mother.
