Constance Marten: Woman heard baby cry on South Downs
- Published
A court sketch of Mark Gordon (left) and Constance Marten (right) at the Old Bailey
A baby was heard crying on the South Downs on a stormy night at the time police were searching for Constance Marten and Mark Gordon, a trial heard.
Sarah Hidden told a court she saw two people resembling the couple on a coastal path near Seaford, East Sussex, between 16 and 27 January, and heard cries a few days earlier.
The couple are on trial for the manslaughter by gross negligence of their newborn baby girl, Victoria.
They both deny the charges.
Victoria was found dead in a Lidl "bag for life" in a shed in Brighton on 1 March.
Ms Marten was in the dock at the Old Bailey again on Monday, having missed the first few days of the trial.
Ms Hidden, who was living in Seaford close to the Seven Sisters cliffs, said she was walking her dog when she saw two people resembling the couple walking along the path in the other direction.
"They could only have appeared from out of the bushes," she said. "We kind of bumped into each other almost."
She said the man was not carrying anything but the woman "was carrying quite a lot".
"She seemed laden down with things."
On two other dog walks she had seen a teal or blue-green tent, she said. The first time it was on the same path, but in the bushes, and on the next occasion it was near to the Cuckmere River three minutes away.
"I think it was the same tent," she told the court.
A couple of days before she saw the two people she had heard the sound of a baby crying through her open window between about 01:00 GMT and 03:00, she said.
"I was asleep, but the crying woke me up. Two nights in a row," she told the jury.
"It seemed to be on the first night moving from West to East."
She said the crying lasted about thirty or forty minutes and was from the direction of Seaford Head Golf Course.
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon deny all the charges
She said it was a stormy night, windy and raining.
"I know you take babies out to get them to sleep but I don't think you would do it in a storm," she said.
The sound of the crying on the second night was similar, but it was not moving that time.
She said it sounded like a young baby - "it is a different sound to an older baby crying".
The jury has heard that the couple arrived in Newhaven - about six miles from Seaford - on 8 January after getting a taxi from London.
CCTV was shown to the court allegedly showing Ms Marten at the till of a Texaco petrol station in Newhaven on 12 January.
The person was wearing a navy blue winter coat with the hood up and a face mask.
Jurors were told that in the footage Ms Marten was buying items including a pink baseball cap, a head torch and hand warmers.
The cashier could also be seen scanning snacks, bottles of water, and a newspaper which the trial heard Ms Marten paid for in cash.
More footage was also played, which the prosecution said was recorded "a minute earlier" and showed Mr Gordon walking with bags - including a red Lidl bag - in his hands.
As well as manslaughter, the couple are accused of four other offences - cruelty to their baby; concealment of the baby's birth; causing or allowing her death; and perverting the course of justice by concealing the body.
Ms Marten and Mr Gordon both deny all the charges and the trial continues.