Jurors have been proven the dramatic second police arrested an aristocrat and repeatedly requested her: “Where is your child?”
Constance Marten, 36, was tracked down by officers in Brighton together with Mark Gordon, 49, after the couple went off grid and have been reportedly residing in a tent with their new child daughter Victoria in February final yr.
Victoria’s physique was discovered days later in a Lidl grocery store bag coated in garbage in a disused shed.
Marten, a rich aristocrat, and Gordon are on trial accused of the manslaughter of their new child daughter.
They are additionally charged with perverting the course of justice, concealing the start of a kid, youngster cruelty, and inflicting or permitting the dying of a kid.
An officer’s bodycam footage exhibiting the second of arrest sees Marten being advised that she is underneath arrest for youngster neglect.
Marten replied: “For doing what?”
She was then requested by officers: “Where’s your child? Where’s your child? Sorry, where is your child, we need to know?” to which she didn’t reply.
A canine handler then asks her: “Tell me now because I’m going to send the dog into the wood to try and find someone so you tell me where it is now.”
Marten was then additional arrested for concealment of the start of a kid, which she is heard saying was “not an arrestable offence”, including: “You can’t arrest someone for hiding a pregnancy.”
‘I’m not going to make you a sandwich’
Sergeant Robert Button was one of many officers who assisted within the arrest. He advised jurors on the Old Bailey on Tuesday that Marten seemed to be sporting “furniture stuffing” for insulation and the pair smelled “unclean and unwashed”.
After he approached Gordon, Sergeant Button is heard saying: “Hello. Sorry mate, can you stop for a second? Stop alright, I need to speak to you.”
When requested why he was working away, Gordon resisted arrest, complaining that he was hungry and “wasn’t doing anything”.
A distressed Marten then intervened saying: “Stop with him please, he’s not well. Oh my god, I can’t watch. Leave him alone. Let him eat his food. He’s starving.”
PC Matthew Colburn helped handcuff Gordon and requested repeatedly the place the kid was and whether or not it was alive because the defendant continued to demand food and drinks.
He was given ginger beer, hen and crisps, earlier than asking for mayonnaise, saying he didn’t wish to speak and requested why discovering the infant was the “bigger deal”.
“I’m not going to make you a sandwich, we’ve got a child to find,” PC Colburn was heard replying on body-worn video.
“We need to potentially save a life. That’s the number one priority. It may not be your priority, but it’s everyone else’s priority.”
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PC Colburn stated he had by no means given a suspect meals after arresting them earlier than. He advised jurors he rapidly got here to the realisation the couple probably had not eaten for days, weeks, and even months.
‘Trying to remain hidden’
A seek for the pair began after Greater Manchester Police discovered a placenta within the couple’s burnt-out automotive on a motorway close to Bolton.
Jurors have additionally been proven CCTV footage which seems to indicate a lady, alleged to be the aristocrat, filling up a bottle with petrol from a pump.
In separate footage, a lady considered Marten is proven utilizing money to purchase gadgets together with Coca-Cola, Haribo sweets, Mini Cheddars, and matches.
Before their arrest, resident Dale Cooley noticed Gordon carrying a follow one foot wrapped in a plastic bag, which he thought was “strange”.
Recognising them from the information, he tried to interact them in dialog and phoned his spouse to say the pair have been performing surprisingly, “as if they were trying to stay hidden”.
Mr Cooley known as police at round 9.26pm and the pair have been arrested at round 9.35pm.
The trial continues.
Source: information.sky.com”