Constance Marten and Mark Gordon's baby was found dead beneath litter

The body of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon's newborn daughter Victoria was found in the bag alongside cans of Coke and beer and other rubbish, the Old Bailey heard.

The couple had been living with their baby off-grid in a tent on the South Downs while on the run from police.

On February 27 last year, police finally tracked them down and arrested them in Golf Drive, Brighton, after they were spotted by a resident who called 999.

PC Allen Ralph of the Metropolitan Police, who was stationed in Sussex to assist in the search for the baby, gave evidence at the Old Bailey where the pair are on trial.

He told the court about the moment he and another officer emptied a Lidl bag found at the back of a disused shed in allotments off Lynchet Close, Brighton.

The Lidl bag for life which the prosecution allege that Marten and Gordon's baby spent 'most of its life' in. The baby has been removed from the bag by police in this image (Image: The Metropolitan Police)

He and a team of officers searched the allotments sector by sector until they came to an abandoned shed on the afternoon of March 1 last year.

PC Ralph told the court: “The first thing I noticed [in the shed] was the smell. I was with another officer then, I remember saying to him 'I think something is dead in there, or something has died'."

The police officer explained how he saw a Lidl bag for life which he had recognised from news coverage and police press releases.

• READ MORE: Trial shown video of Constance Marten's arrest

He told the jury: “I saw the bag tucked into the corner of the shed. I lifted the bag and it was heavy. There was no reason for it to be heavy, so I looked in the bag.

Joel Smith, prosecuting, asked PC Ralph: “When you first looked at the bag could you see what was inside?”

PC Ralph said: “It seemed like rubbish. The thing that made me bring it out was the two newborn baby nappies. There was a pink balled-up bloody blanket. Underneath that loads of rubbish, cans, bottles, leaves.”

The court heard how the baby’s body was wrapped in a sheet inside the bag, alongside two Coke cans, a can of Budweiser and other items.

PC Ralph said: “I unwrapped it. It was wrapped I don’t know how many times - quite a few. I unwrapped it a few times before it got to an area where I could see red.

“A couple of seconds after we went to the other side of the bag, I put my hand down and it slipped.

“I looked in and that was the baby’s leg. My hand was soaking wet. The baby was very pale and cold to the touch.”

PC Ralph called more senior officers to the scene and the baby was confirmed dead shortly afterwards.

The jury was shown PC Ralph’s bodycam footage where his gloved hands removed nappies and litter from the bag. The footage was redacted so the baby could not be seen. 

Aristocrat Marten and her boyfriend Gordon, of no fixed address, deny the manslaughter of baby Victoria by gross negligence between January 4 and February 27 last year.

They are also charged with perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child, child cruelty and causing or allowing the death of a child, which they deny.

The trial continues and the jury will return on Monday, February 19, when it is set to be shown the rest of Marten’s police interview.