A fugitive aristocrat was given nearly £50,000 from her trust fund around the time she disappeared with her partner and newborn baby, a court has heard.
Constance Marten was given £47,886 by bankers C. Hoare & Co between 1 September 2022 and 17 January 2023. A police appeal to find them was launched on 6 January last year.
Marten and Mark Gordon went on the run with their daughter Victoria after their car burst into flames near Bolton, in Greater Manchester, last January. The Old Bailey has heard how they slept in a tent in their effort to keep the baby, after Marten’s four other children were taken into care.
When the couple was arrested in Brighton, East Sussex, they initially refused to say where their child was or whether she was alive or dead.
On 1 March, Victoria’s remains were found in a Lidl supermarket bag inside a disused shed on an allotment.
The jury heard during evidence from the police financial investigator DC Steve Ferguson on Thursday that Marten drew a monthly allowance of £2,500 from a family trust, starting in September 2022 – and that some of the money could be given early, then deducted from the next payment, if Marten requested it.
A sum of £1,200 was transferred in November for the storage of Marten’s belongings, and there were several emails about the purchase of a car in December, before £15,590 was transferred, and £13,596 was sent for camera and filming equipment, as well as a laptop.
The allowance then rose to £3,400 a month, before C. Hoare & Co began to send emails in order to contact Marten at about the same time the police appeal was launched.
On 6 January 2023, the bank sent Marten an email asking her to call. Three days later, they emailed again saying they were “concerned for her welfare”. Then, on 12 January, they contacted her again to say they were “very concerned” and asked her to urgently get in touch.
Joel Smith, prosecuting, said the total amount transferred during that time was £47,886. After 5 January, the date the couple’s car was found burning, there were “no significant card payments made”, the court heard. In early January 2023, Marten’s Metro Bank balance was £19,083.18.
Marten and Gordon, of no fixed address, deny manslaughter, perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child, child cruelty, and causing or allowing the death of a child. The Old Bailey trial continues.
