COPS found the remains of Constance Marten’s baby girl stuffed in a Lidl bag filled with rubbish – under a table topped with out-of-date milk.
The horror moment was caught on police body cams, days after the aristocrat and her partner Mark Gordon, 49, refused to tell them where newborn Victoria was.
The remains of newborn Victoria were found in a disused shed in Brighton[/caption]
Police made the tragic find days after Marten and partner Mark Gordon refused to say where their baby was[/caption]
Marten sobbed in court today as her interview was played back[/caption]
The shocking footage was shown in the Old Bailey today, where the pair are standing trial.
On February 27 last year, police tracked Marten and Gordon down to Brighton but they would not say where their baby was.
Tragically, Victoria was already dead after her parents went “off-grid” – living in a “thin and flimsy” tent in the middle of winter.
The officer who found her has now detailed the harrowing moment that unfolded on March 1 last year.
Pc Allen Ralph, who had been sent from Scotland Yard to help in the search, said he’d noticed the distinctive Lidl bag in CCTV before he joined the case.
In body cam footage on the day of the horror find, he can be seen approaching a disused shed near where the couple had been living in an allotment.
There, PC Ralph noticed a broken window and lifted the door to get in.
He recalled the smell, telling the court: “I remember saying ‘either something is dead in there or something has died’.”
Inside the PC and other cops found out-of-date milk and bread on a table, with a supermarket bag underneath.
He then told one of his fellow officers he was sure he had noticed the Lidl bag previously, and that they should look through it.
PC Ralph told jurors: “I lifted it and it was heavy and there was no reason for it to be heavy from what I could see inside.
“I remember quite clearly there was just a lot of rubbish.”
Inside they could see two baby nappies, a pink baby blanket, drinks cans, cardboard, leaves and other pieces of rubbish.
But one of his colleagues said they could see what looked like a doll’s head.
PC Ralph continued: “The head was to the left. It was concave, the top of the head. That was what we touched.
“I unwrapped it two or three times before I got to a part where I could see red pooling.
“A couple of seconds after, we went to the right-hand side. I put my hand down. My hand slipped on something. I looked and that was the baby’s leg. My hand was soaking wet.”
I remember saying ‘either something is dead in there or something has died’.
Pc Allen Ralph
He said the baby was “very pale” and “very cold” to the touch.
Marten sobbed in court today as the start of her police interview after the baby was found was played.
She began crying in the interview after confirming the baby was hers, before telling police: “Her name was Victoria.”
The 36-year-old also told police she calls Gordon her husband.
The court had previously heard how the couple went on the run with their newborn daughter after their car burst into flames on a motorway in Bolton on January 5 last year.
This sparked a nationwide search, while the couple went and lived “off grid” until they were arrested weeks later.
The couple deny manslaughter by gross negligence, concealment of the birth of a child, cruelty to a person under 16 and perverting the course of justice.
They also deny causing or allowing the death of a child, an alternative charge to manslaughter, between 4 January and 27 February last year.
The trial continues.
Timeline of baby 'killing' – how couple evaded cops
CONSTANCE Marten and Mark Gordon allegedly sparked a 54-day manhunt across the UK after vanishing with their baby Victoria.
Here’s how the pair’s journey began…
December 20, 2022
Marten and Gordon booked into a holiday cottage in Northumberland, with the rental due to end on Boxing Day. The owner told jurors he found the property in “something of a state” on December 28.
December 24, 2022
The couple claim their baby daughter was born this day but this has been disputed by prosecutors.
December 28, 2022
Their Suzuki broke down on the M18 motorway so a recovery driver took them to a nearby Sainsbury’s. There was allegedly no sign of the baby but the back and side windows of the car had been blocked by clothing.
January 4, 2023
Marten and Gordon checked into the Ibis hotel at the Lymm Services in Cheshire then later the AC Hotel in Manchester.
January 5, 2023
The couple’s Peugeot 206 catches fire on the M61 motorway in Greater Manchester. Police launch an urgent probe after finding placenta, burner phones and Marten’s passport, jurors were told.
She and Gordon are taken to a Morrisons store in Bolton by a member of the public before being seen on CCTV at the nearby Bolton Interchange station.
The couple allegedly use Marten’s trust for a taxi to Liverpool, then a £400 cab to Harwich in Essex.
Cab driver Ali Yaryar, who picked the couple up from Liverpool, told the court: “I think the baby had no clothes”.
January 6, 2023
The couple arrive in Harwich and check into a Premier Inn at around 3am. They later move to the Fryatt Hotel, where they paid in cash, it was said.
January 7, 2023
Marten and Gordon travel by taxi to Colchester then to East Ham in London. The couple allegedly buy a buggy from Argos then grab another cab to Whitechapel.
They ate in a Brick Lane restaurant then dump the new buggy – choosing instead to keep Victoria in a Lidl bag, jurors heard.
January 8, 2023
The couple spend £475 on a taxi from Hornsey to Newhaven in East Sussex and walk to the South Downs National Park. Marten buys snacks and petrol with cash but there was no sign of the baby, it is said.
January 9, 2023
Both Marten and Gordon claim baby Victoria died on this day – making her 16 days old, the court was told. It is said there is no way of knowing this for sure.
January 16, 2023
Marten and Gordon are seen setting up a tent in Stanmer Park Nature Reserve in the South Downs despite the cold weather.
February 16/17, 2023
The couple are spotted near Hollingbury Golf Course in rural Sussex allegedly pushing a buggy with no baby. Their tent is later seen in Coldean Lane in Brighton
A driver sees the pair walking towards Stanmer Park with something under Marten’s puffer jacket, the court heard.
February 19, 2023
Gordon and Marten are allegedly seen in their tent in the park with a very young baby with a “wobbly” head. Jurors told the baby had no socks, blanket or hat on.
February 27, 2023
The couple are arrested in Hollingbury Place in Brighton but do not reveal Victoria’s location at first, it is said.
March 1, 2023
Tragic Victoria is found dead in a Lidl bag covered in rubbish inside a disused shed “like refuse”, the court is told.
She and partner Mark Gordan are currently standing trial in the Old Bailey[/caption]
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