Aristocrat Constance Marten and partner face MORE charges after they ‘killed baby during 54-day police search’
A RUNAWAY aristocrat and her lover accused of killing their baby after a 54-day police search are now facing more charges.
Constance Marten, 35, and Mark Gordon, 48, were detained after little Victoria was found dead inside a locked shed on an allotment.
The couple sparked a frantic nationwide hunt after placenta was found in a burning car on the M61 in Bolton on January 5.
They were detained in Brighton, East Sussex, on February 27 following a tip-off with the baby’s remains discovered two days later.
The couple were previously charged with gross negligence manslaughter, concealing the birth of a child and perverting the course of justice.
A hearing at the Old Bailey today was told Marten and Gordon are now facing two further charges of child cruelty and causing or allowing the death of a child.
They are accused of causing the baby’s death by their own “unlawful act” or failed to “take such steps as could reasonably have been expected” to protect the baby.
The alleged offences are said to have taken place between January 4 and February 27.
Marten and Gordon, who appeared via videolink, were remanded into custody ahead of a hearing on September 22.
No pleas have been entered but a provisional trial is set for January 2.
The couple named their baby Victoria before her tragic death.
She was found wrapped in a plastic bag and covered with nappies in a shed at the overgrown allotment near where Marten and Gordon were arrested.
A post mortem carried out previously was unable to establish a cause of death with further tests being carried out.