A young baby girl would still be alive today if it were not for the “reckless and ultimately grossly negligent conduct” of her parents, a jury has heard.

Constance Marten, 37, and Mark Gordon, 50, deny manslaughter by gross negligence and causing or allowing the death of a child.

They are facing a retrial at the Old Bailey. The couple’s baby was found dead in a shopping bag covered in rubbish in 2023.

Opening the case, prosecutor Tom Little KC said Mr Gordon and Ms Marten “put their relationship and their views of life before the life of a little baby girl”.

“Their desire to keep their baby girl led inexorably to the death of that very baby,” he said.

During the previous trial, Ms Marten and Mr Gordon were found guilty of concealing the birth of a child and perverting the course of justice.

The jury heard the couple, who have been in a relationship since 2016, have four other children who were all taken into care.

Mr Little told jurors that the couple gave birth in “secret”.

The barrister said they then decided in the middle of winter and in “obviously dangerous weather conditions they would deprive the baby of what it needed – warmth, shelter, protection and food and ultimately safety”, the barrister said.

Mr Little said the couple did not seek any medical assistance for the baby before, during or after birth and would carry their baby in a reusable supermarket bag on occasions.

When the hunt by the authorities to find them intensified “so their desperation increased and so did the risks and the dangers to the baby”, the prosecutor said.

Ms Marten appeared in the dock for the first day of her retrial. Mr Gordon was not at court.

Judge Mark Lucraft KC told the jury that it was hoped that Mr Gordon would join them on video link, adding “the fact he is not here does not mean anything to you at all”.

The jury heard that at the end of 2022, the couple had moved around various locations in South Yorkshire, Bolton, Essex, London and the South Coast of England, and they stayed in various properties including a holiday cottage in Northumberland, a hotel in Cheshire, and another hotel in Manchester.

The court also heard that a car the defendants used had broken down, prompting them to switch to a new car, which later caught fire on the M61 between junctions three and four in Greater Manchester.

“They didn’t remain at the scene with their towering inferno vehicle,” said Mr Little.

Police found a number of “burner” phones in the car, Ms Marten’s passport, a placenta wrapped in the towel, and a large amount of baby items including newborn clothing, suggesting the baby was already born by then.

After abandoning the burning vehicle, the couple then walked in the rain along the banked wooded area beside the motorway for about 200m and were given a lift by a member of the public to a Morrisons supermarket close to the Bolton Interchange Station, where they were caught on CCTV footage shown to the jury.

The couple first came to public attention in January 2023 when police launched a very public manhunt after evidence of a recent birth was found in a burnt-out car near Bolton.

The couple were eventually found in Brighton on 27 February but there was no sign of the baby.

The newborn – who they called Victoria – was found dead two days later in a shopping bag in an allotment in the Hollingbury area of Brighton.

The retrial continues.