Special Season: The Constance Marten Trial - Episode 3

Fresh From The Old Bailey

After another week of delays, the Constance Marten court has sat on only two days.

But they have been fascinating days. On Tuesday, for instance, the jury were offered a rundown of 'undisputed facts' - statements that the prosecution and defence agree on - to do with the history of social worker interventions in the lives of Gordon, Marten, and their four previous children.

We learned that Marten had pretended to be an Irish traveller in order to secure a council house. That the duo had lived in a Welsh woodland, in a similar tent to the one they pitched on the South Downs. That Marten's father had applied for a custody order, and that social workers had warned her not to co-sleep with her baby.

We heard about a 'separation order', which put their first child into foster care, and how the pair were often missing when it came to visiting the children being cared for by the state.

There was also fresh detail on the finances of the duo. How Marten banked with the oldest private bank in the country. Her £48 000 of existing funds at a time when the duo were living in tents, exploring their 'alternative lifestyle'. Her many emails to the trustees of her trust fund, requesting more cash.

With us as usual are Guy Toyn, Court News UK's supremo, and reporter Jack Hudson - who has been covering every day of the case.

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Fresh From The Old Bailey is an independent podcast produced and presented by Gavin Haynes, that brings brand new stories of crime and the courts, straight from the mouths of the people who see justice being done every single day - Britain's first rank of court reporters.