³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

Constance Marten is not the "utterly selfish, callous" woman she has been described as, her barrister has told jurors at her trial.

In his closing speech, Francis FitzGibbon accused the prosecution of being "almost vengeful" towards her, adding she was not a "monster".

Ms Marten, 36, and her partner Mark Gordon, 49, are on trial over the death of daughter Victoria in March 2023.

The couple deny manslaughter by gross negligence and other charges.

Mr FitzGibbon said what happened to Victoria was not a crime, but a "terrible, tragic accident".

The prosecution has characterised Ms Marten "as if they wanted to make you hate her or fill you with righteous anger so you would be more inclined to find her guilty", which is the "wrong approach", he told the jurors at the Old Bailey.

The trial has been told by the prosecution how the couple went on the run from authorities last year in a bid to keep their baby.

They abandoned their car after it burst into flames near Bolton, on 5 January 2023 and were arrested in Brighton on 27 February, two days before Victoria's body was found in a disused allotment shed.

Mr FitzGibbon said the police pursuit had be carried out in the "most public way imaginable".

He added: "Their story, you may recall, was a sensation and was reported sensationally, but you do not deal in sensationalism."

He also accused eyewitnesses of "confirmation bias", saying they were subconsciously affected by media coverage.

The jurors were told Ms Marten is "grieving", which Mr FitzGibbon said was evident whenever she speaks about social services or family court.

"If she was this cruel neglectful mother, why would she show any concern for the four children that had been taken away from them?" he asked.

Replaying a video of her police interview, Ms Marten's barrister said it showed the "genuine grief of a mother who lost her baby in the circumstances she said".

Ms Marten previously told the jurors she had fallen asleep sitting up in a tent and "keeled over", waking up to find Victoria dead.

Mr FitzGibbon said grief was an "ever-present ghost" of her motherly love, and reminded jurors of her evidence in court that she felt "responsible" for what happened, as any "decent human being would".

The barrister added there was "no sufficient evidence of hypothermia" in Victoria's death,

Mr Gordon's defence barrister John Femi-Ola delivered his closing speech on Tuesday and disputed how the prosecution had painted the defendants as "callous and cruel".

The defendants, of no fixed address, deny manslaughter by gross negligence, perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child, child cruelty and causing or allowing the death of a child.