Jurors in the Constance Marten and Mark Gordon trial have been asked to halt their deliberations for almost two weeks.

The 11-strong jury was first sent out at 4.01pm on Tuesday to begin deliberating.

Jurors have now been asked to pause deliberations by judge Mark Lucroft KC until May 20.

Marten, 36, and partner Gordon, 49, are accused of the manslaughter of their daughter Victoria who died after they went off-grid on the South Downs.

Over the course of several weeks, the Old Bailey has heard how the couple had fled authorities in January last year in an attempt to keep their newborn child after four other children were taken into care.

They travelled by taxi all the way to the south coast after their car burst into flames near Bolton, Greater Manchester, last January 5.

They were arrested in Brighton last February 27, two days before Victoria’s decomposed body was found inside a Lidl bag in a disused allotment shed.

The cause of the child’s death could not be established.

Marten has claimed her daughter died by accident when she fell asleep holding her under her jacket the day after pitching a tent.

The prosecution suggested Victoria was exposed to cold wintry conditions with inadequate clothes for longer or was smothered.

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 after the death of their daughter Victoria.