The Old Bailey has so far heard today how Mark Gordon,49, and Constance Marten, 36, travelled from Greater Manchester all the way to Harwich in Essex after their car went up in flames on the M61.
The couple face trial for gross negligence manslaughter after the body of their newborn daughter, Victoria, was found in a supermarket bag for life in a disused shed in Brighton last year.
Read more: Updates as Constance Marten and Mark Gordon trial continues
The pair are also accused of perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child, child cruelty and causing or allowing the death of a child. They deny all charges.
Jurors heard how member of the public Wai Wai Balash gave the couple a lift with their baby to Morrisons in Bolton on January 5.
He found the couple outside his home in Albany Close.
He said Marten approached him and asked him to give them a lift to the nearest town because their car had broken.
Mr Balash said Marten was “calm and confident” but it was “clear she didn’t know the area.”
It was around this time police discovered Marten’s passport, “burner” phones and a discarded placenta wrapped in a towel in the wreckage of the car.
Detective Constable Martha Bourne also told the court clothing, bags and notebooks were found in Amblecote playing fields, a distance from where the car caught fire.
A high-risk missing persons inquiry was then launched and the couple became front-page news.
Once in Bolton they got a taxi to Liverpool before getting another taxi from Liverpool to Harwich – a 270-mile journey.
Ali Yaryar, who took them to Harwich, said Marten was “shivering” when she got in the car and asked him to turn the heating on.
He said she was wearing a green pilot’s jacket.
“For that time of year she did not have much clothes on,” he said.
“It was a very cold night.”
Mr Yaryar said he did not at first realise they had a baby.
“They were hiding something, there was a baby in the jacket,” he said.
“I asked if she had a baby, she said yes.”
He then offered them a car seat, but was told the baby was “too small”.
Mr Yaryar said the couple, who paid £400 in cash up front for the journey, argued.
“The lady was complaining that he was not very helpful,” said Mr Yaryar.
The baby was crying and the man had not been able to calm the baby down, the court as told.
The taxi driver said he believed the baby was “just wearing a nappy” but wrapped in a blanket.
“They had no phone, no bag,” he said.
John Femi-Ola KC, defending Gordon, suggested the baby did have clothes and only had a nappy on while being changed.
Mr Yaryar replied: “I think the baby had no clothes.”
The witness said he saw news stories a few days later and recognised the people he had taken in his taxi.
The trial continues.
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