A jury has been told that Constance Marten’s newborn baby would have been exposed to “substantial climatic cold stress” during the first days of camping on the South Downs in January 2023, increasing the risk of hypothermia.
Professor George Havenith, a specialist in cold exposure and clothing, testified that baby Victoria would have faced a “significant risk of hypothermia” during the camping trip.
Marten and her partner, Mark Gordon, are currently retried at the Old Bailey, facing charges of causing or allowing the death of a child and gross negligence manslaughter. The couple denies the charges.
In their earlier trial, Marten and Gordon were convicted of concealing the birth of their child and obstructing justice by failing to report the baby’s death.
The court previously heard that the couple went on the run after police found a placenta in the back of their car, which had caught fire on the M62. They had travelled from Liverpool by taxi and stayed in hotels in Harwich before continuing their journey to Newhaven in Sussex.
Once in Sussex, they set up camp on the South Downs, bringing only an Argos tent and two summer sleeping bags. It was raining, and temperatures were around 7.5°C during their stay.
Two months later, the decomposed body of the baby was discovered in a plastic bag in a shed on a Brighton allotment.
Professor Havenith explained to the jury that he had recreated the conditions of the camping trip using a climate chamber at Loughborough University. He found that the tent was slightly warmer than the outside air, with temperatures inside rising up to 5°C higher than outside. However, he noted that the tent had minimal insulation on the ground, meaning anyone lying directly on the floor would have felt colder.
In another experiment, two PhD students sat inside the tent, and within an hour, condensation formed on the walls, with “water running down” from their breath.
Prosecution lawyer Joel Smith KC asked if baby Victoria could have stayed warm inside Marten’s coat if everything had remained dry. Professor Havenith replied that with dry clothing, a dry coat, and a dry sleeping bag, there would have been enough insulation to keep the baby safe.
However, when asked about the effects of wet clothing, the expert explained that wet clothes, both inside the tent and during the journey to the South Downs, would have left the baby exposed to dangerous cold stress, putting her at significant risk of hypothermia.
Marten and Gordon continue to deny all charges, and Professor Havenith’s evidence is ongoing.
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