Defence begins in Constance Marten and Mark Gordon trial
- Published
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon deny all the charges.
The jury in the Constance Marten and Mark Gordon trial has heard there is no legal obligation for a woman to register her pregnancy with the NHS.
GP Dr Ehsan Rafiq said there had been a growing tendency for mothers to have a "free birth" - without any midwifery or other medical intervention.
Ms Marten and Mr Gordon are on trial for the manslaughter of their newborn baby Victoria, whose body was found in an allotment shed in March 2023.
They both deny all the charges.
It is alleged they had been living with their baby in a tent in a bid to keep the child, after Ms Marten's four other children were taken into care.
On the first day of defence evidence being heard Neena Crinnion, the barrister for Mark Gordon, asked Dr Rafiq: "Is a pregnant woman legally obliged to register the pregnancy with the NHS?"
"No she is not legally obliged to do that unless there is concerns about their mental capacity," he replied.
Ms Crinnion asked if a mother was obliged to receive antenatal care or post-natal care.
"No she is not," Dr Rafiq said
Questioned by Constance Marten's barrister, Francis FitzGibbon KC, he was asked if he would advise a woman who had had four previous children with no complications against a free birth.
"Should there be no concerns in the medical history and she wants a free birth I wouldn't necessarily advise against it," Dr Rafiq said.
Joel Smith, for the prosecution, asked what he would say if a mother planned to live in a tent with a new-born child in the middle of January.
"I would advise against it," Dr Rafiq replied.
"Your strong advice to this hypothetical mother would be 'do not live in a tent with this child in winter?'," he was asked.
"That is correct," Dr Rafiq replied.
Ms Crinnion asked him if the hypothetical woman said she had a number of items to mitigate the risks of sleeping in a tent what would he then say.
"That would be reassuring," Dr Rafiq said.
Earlier the jury heard from Dr Srinivas Rao Annavarapu, a consultant in paediatric and perinatal pathology at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool.
He was asked about the placenta found in the couple's burnt-out car on 5 January 2023.
"The placenta pathology is in keeping with a baby that is possibly two to three weeks old, and is term-born," Dr Annavarapu said.
"It is not 1-2 days. It is older."
The defence case is that baby Victoria was born on Christmas Eve 2022. The prosecution has suggested she may have been born later than that.
The couple 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.
The trial continues.