Aristocrat Constance Marten was spotted browsing “skimpy” dresses in the window of an east London store as she and her partner were the focus of a nationwide manhunt for their newborn baby, the Old Bailey heard.
Marten, 36, and Mark Gordon, 48, went missing in late December 2022 and police realized they were carrying a baby after a placenta was found in their burned-out car on the side of the highway on January 5, 2023.
Two days later, after the couple traveled across northern England and took a £400 taxi to Essex, Marten was seen acting “bizarre” in East Ham, London.
Graphic designer Nicola Hutton told jurors that while she was on a bus waiting at traffic lights, her eyes were drawn to a woman who appeared to be homeless.
“It was in front of a store across from Holland and Barrett. “I remember there were bright red tight dresses in the front window,” she said.
“I saw you looking at the window for a minute before continuing. He started walking slowly, as if he wasn’t in a hurry to get anywhere.
“He would take a step here and there; his body language made me believe he had no real purpose at that moment.”
Ms Hutton said she assumed the woman was homeless based on her “untidy” way of dressing and believed the “bulge” on her jacket might have contained a pet or stolen property.
“I remember thinking, ‘Oh, there are some strange people in London,'” she said, later adding that she recognized the woman as Marten the next day after seeing BBC News’ coverage of the missing persons case.
The court heard Gordon bought a car from Argos in East Ham and drove to the pharmacy, while Marten was caught on CCTV wandering along the road wearing a maroon coat and red headscarf.
The placenta from the baby’s birth was found in the burnt-out car on the side of M61, making it a high priority for the couple to hunt to protect the defenseless baby.
The bags containing the belongings of the couple, who escaped from the fire scene, were thrown on the side of the road and they first headed towards Bolton and then towards Liverpool.
Jurors heard detailed evidence of the couple’s journey, paying in cash and staying in hotels and taking taxis from the north of England to Essex and then to London.
Dale Gosling told the court on Monday that he encountered the couple while walking his dog near Harwich Port in Essex, saw them sitting on a flowerpot and recognized them from the news.
The couple said they heard a “distressed” scream from the baby Marten was carrying and said, “Excuse me, are you the ones who were declared missing on television with a new baby?”
Mr Gosling said Gordon denied it was theirs and also refused to be taken to hospital for treatment of their baby.
“They said they thought they had plans. They knew what they were doing. “They said they were trying to get to London to see family or friends.”
Valentina Burley said she saw the couple on their way to a ParkRun meet in Harwich Park on the morning of January 7 and heard “a baby crying loudly.”
“I wondered why they were out in the cold with a baby and figured if they were waiting for a train they could wait inside somewhere warm,” she said.
Colette Franklin took the couple from Harwich to Colchester by taxi and said in her statement: “At one point when a police car pulled up towards us in the alleyway, he slid over his seat.”
Another taxi driver, Razvan Palcu, took them from Colchester to East Ham and remembered Gordon carrying the baby in his coat.
“When we got to the end of Colchester high street the woman said we had to pick up her husband from the Castle Pub,” he said.
“When the man entered, I noticed that he unzipped his jacket, took out a baby and gave it to the woman.”
The couple is said to have killed the baby, named Victoria, in a case of manslaughter through gross negligence by denying her access to proper food and warmth.
Marten and Gordon are accused of going to a newborn camp for more than a month on the freezing South Downs in January and February 2023 in a “selfish” attempt to prevent the newborn child from being taken into care.
But Gordon insists the baby died on January 9 and was kept warm, dry and well-fed throughout his short life. Marten told police he hid the baby’s body because he was considering a homemade funeral or cremation, but ultimately decided he wanted an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
Marten and Gordon deny charges of manslaughter by gross negligence, perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child, cruelty to a child and causing or allowing the death of a child.
The trial continues.