Aristocrat Tells Manslaughter Trial She Did Nothing to Her Baby but ‘Show Her Love’

A British aristocrat accused of manslaughter over the death of her newborn daughter told jurors Thursday that she “did nothing but show her love” and denied harming her baby.

Constance Marten, 36, and her 49-year-old partner, Mark Gordon, allegedly caused the death of their fifth child, Victoria, last year while on the run from police in the U.K. in the cold winter months of early 2023. Marten, whose family have been close to members of the British royal family, and Gordon both deny the charges against them, including manslaughter by gross negligence, concealing the birth of their child, and perverting the course of justice by hiding her body.

Prosecutors claim the pair caused Victoria’s death by living off the grid while authorities tried to find the family. Police had started a national search for the couple after a placenta was found in the burned-out shell of their car in northwest England on Jan. 5, 2023. Marten and Gordon went on the run and camped with their newborn in freezing conditions because they wanted to keep their child, prosecutors claim, after they had lost custody of all four of their other children.

Read more at The Daily Beast.