Constance Marten and Mark Gordon: Couple on trial for baby death visited Doncaster during manhunt

Constance Marten and her partner Mark Gordon are accused of killing their baby daughter while “on the run” to avoid her being taken into car like her siblings.

The pair are accused of dumping the child’s body in a shopping bag concealed within rubbish in March 2023.

Gordon, 49, and Marten, 36, sparked a nationwide manhunt in January 2023 and the couple deny manslaughter by gross negligence between January 4 and February 27 last year.

They also deny charges of concealing a birth between December 28, 2022 and February 27, child cruelty, causing or allowing the death the child, and perverting the course of justice by concealing the body.

The court heard that as they travelled across the country moving from location to location, Gordon had first visited Sheffield on December 19, 2022, as he was required, to tell officers he was of “no fixed abode”. The reason is “not relevant” to the case, the jury was told.

Trips to Northumberland and Leeds followed and on December 28, the couple’s Suzuki car was recovered by a pick-up truck after breaking down on the M18 near to Doncaster.

The pick-up driver was initially asked to take them to Leeds University, but Gordon then asked him to take them to an address in King Street, Thorne instead before leaving them at a local Sainsbury's.

The pair then visited Cheshire and Manchester and on the evening of January 5, the couple’s Peugeot 206 car caught fire on the M61 between junctions 3 and 4 in Greater Manchester.

Police found a placenta wrapped in a towel, Marten’s passport and a large number of “burner” mobile telephones to stop them being tracked, the court heard.

A high-risk missing persons inquiry was launched but despite the couple becoming aware that they were front-page news, they did not contact the police, the court heard.

After more movements around the London and Essex areas, the pair were eventually arrested in Brighton on February 27 last year.

The trial at The Old Bailey continues.