Aristocrat Constance Marten and lover Mark Gordon in court over baby death

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Aristocrat Constance Marten and her partner have made a fresh court appearance over the death of their two-month old baby.

Marten and Mark Gordon are due to stand trial next year over their daughter Victoria’s death.

Marten, of no fixed address, appeared at the Old Bailey on Friday wearing a white blouse, black trousers and a red hair clip.

A dock officer separated her from Gordon, who was wearing a grey prison-issue tracksuit and green hat.

The case was adjourned until 12 October for a further hearing, to allow time for Gordon to appoint a solicitor.

Judge Mark Lucraft told the defendant it was up to him to “instruct a solicitor pretty quickly”.

Gordon replied: “Definitely my lordship, I get that.”

Marten, 36, and Gordon, 49, were charged with manslaughter by gross negligence on 2 March after the body of two-month-old Victoria was found in Brighton.

They were also charged with concealing a child’s birth and perverting the course of justice.

In July it emerged that the defendants were also facing further charges of child cruelty and causing or allowing the death of a child.

It is claimed 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.

Victoria’s remains were found in a plastic bag in a locked shed at an overgrown allotment in the Hollingbury area of Brighton on March 1.

The discovery came after Marten and Gordon were arrested in nearby Stanmer Villas, following a nationwide manhunt for the missing parents and infant.

An initial post-mortem examination was unable to establish a cause of death.

A provisional trial date has been set for 2 January next year.