Constance Marten 'advised' by partner Mark Gordon to say their baby died of 'cot death', jury told

Wealthy aristocrat Constance Marten was 'advised' by her partner Mark Gordon to say their baby died of 'cot death' after she passed away in her arms as she slept, a court has heard.

Marten, 36, and Gordon, 49, went on the run with their daughter, Victoria, after their car burst into flames on the M61 motorway near Bolton last January.

The Old Bailey has heard how they went on to sleep in a tent, in a bid to keep the baby, after Marten's four other children were taken into care.

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When the couple were eventually arrested in Brighton, East Sussex, they initially refused to say where their child was or whether she was alive or dead. Victoria's remains were found in a Lidl supermarket bag inside a disused shed on an allotment last March.

In the following police interviews, Marten gave an account of how Victoria had died six or seven days after the car fire.

She told police that she had been 'extremely tired' and had fallen asleep in a tent while holding Victoria under her jacket. When she woke up, Victoria had gone 'limp' and did not respond to resuscitation attempts, the defendant said. Marten said she did not seek help because the child was no longer alive. She said she wrapped the baby up and held her for hours before putting her in a bag.

She said: "Initially Mark and I were talking about what to do with the situation and I think, like two weeks after it happened, I was debating whether to hand myself in. Mark advised me to say it was a cot death and I was not holding her.

"And he advised me to say that I lay her down and then when we woke up she was on her front and she's passed away. But that isn't what happened. So he may try to say that in order to