Constance Marten, the aristocrat tried for the death of her baby during a run that had fascinated the British, defended on Wednesday her decision to sleep in a tent with her daughter in the middle of winter, saying that "
Jesus survived in a barn »
.
Before the Old Bailey criminal court, where she has been testifying since last Thursday, the 36-year-old accused, heiress to a family historically close to the royal family, claimed that this was the only way to prevent Victoria, who is a few days old, from being taken away from her by social services.
“I will do everything to protect my child and prevent him from being taken by this abominable system
,” she explained, stressing that she would have
“preferred to be in a sumptuous bed in a palace”
rather than in a tent.
Asked about these nights spent in the South Downs, a mountain range in the south of England, in the middle of January, she said:
“Jesus survived in a barn”
.
“All over the world, people live in these conditions”
or
“without central heating
,” she added.
Baby's body found in supermarket bag
In January 2023, the escape of this young woman and her companion Mark Gordon, a 49-year-old man who served a 20-year prison sentence for rape in the United States, made the headlines in the British media.
They were arrested on February 27, 2023 in Brighton (southern England) after weeks of frantic flight, sleeping in hotels, in a tent, and spending hundreds of pounds to travel in taxis across the country. .
Victoria's body was found on March 1 in a supermarket bag left inside a shed.
The couple, who lived withdrawn from society, had already had their four other children taken away.
Constance Marten repeatedly claimed to be
“an excellent mother”
but according to the prosecutor, the couple was
“horribly ill-prepared”
to take care of an infant.
Late last week, the aristocrat also explained that the couple were hoping to leave the UK, and that they were looking for someone who could take the baby abroad initially.
They are being tried for, among other things, murder by negligence, concealing the birth of a child and cruelty to a child.
They pleaded not guilty.
The autopsy could not determine the exact cause of the baby's death, but the possibility that Constance had inadvertently fallen asleep on her was raised during the trial.