Fresh charges in baby death case of aristocrat and partner

An aristocrat and her partner are facing two more charges following the death of their baby daughter. Constance Marten and Mark Gordon were charged with manslaughter by gross negligence on March 2 after the body of two-month-old Victoria was found in Brighton . The couple were also charged with concealment of the birth of a child and perverting the course of justice. Ahead of a hearing at the Old Bailey on Monday, it emerged that the defendants face two new charges alleging child cruelty and causing or allowing the death of a child. It is claimed that they caused 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, 36, and Gordon, 49, of no fixed address, appeared from custody before Judge Mark Lucraft KC. Marten appeared by video link from Bronzefield prison and Gordon from Belmarsh jail and spoke only to confirm their identities. Judge Lucraft put a plea and case management hearing back from August 18 to September 22 and confirmed the provisional trial has been set for January 2 next year. Baby Victoria’s remains were discovered in a plastic bag in a locked shed at an overgrown allotment in the Hollingbury area of Brighton on March 1. The grim discovery came after Marten and Gordon were arrested in Stanmer Villas in the city. An initial post-mortem examination was unable to establish the cause of the baby’s death. Police had been attempting to establish the defendants’ whereabouts for several weeks.