Mark Gordon blames baby's death on police manhunt, court hears

A court sketch of Mark Gordon giving evidence at the Old Bailey

Mark Gordon has blamed the police manhunt for the death of his newborn baby Victoria.

"If it had naturally played out, I believe the baby would have been alive today," the court heard as he gave evidence for the first time during his retrial at the Old Bailey in London.

Gordon, 50, and his partner Constance Marten, 38, deny manslaughter by gross negligence and causing or allowing the death of a child.

Their daughter's decomposed body was found in a shopping bag in a Brighton allotment shed in March 2023, two months after they went on the run.

During the previous trial, Marten and Gordon were found guilty of concealing Victoria's birth and perverting the course of justice by not reporting her death.

Gordon no longer has barristers to represent him, so the judge Mark Lucraft KC asked him questions to lead him through his evidence.

Talking of Marten, he described her as his "beautiful, noble wife" and "a passionate strong individual".

But he said the couple face opposition. He said it "made it very difficult for us who were in love, sincerely in love".

Wearing a blue shirt and a peach headwrap, he told the jury that private detectives hired by Marten's family were following them and observing them.

Constance Marten and Mark Gordon deny manslaughter by gross negligence

Explaining why he and Marten started living in hotels and holiday lets before and after the birth of their fifth child Victoria, he said "she wanted some time with the baby" and the couple never would have predicted what went on to happen.

"It was a range of calamitous events, one after the other," he said.

It was after their car caught fire in January 2023 that police realised the couple had another baby, leading to detectives launching a public appeal for the couple.

Gordon told the jury "if that manhunt hadn't happened… who knows what could have happened".

"No laws were being broken to justify a national manhunt," he said.

"There are risk assessments that you should do, people - if somebody's on the side of a ledge about to jump off, you don't rush them."

He added: "If it had naturally played out, I believe the baby would have been alive today."

"Who gave the command to do a national manhunt?" he asked.

"We are not silly people. We are not irresponsible people.

"My position is firmly is that had the manhunt not taken place, these circumstances would not have happened.

"Paranoia - call it what you want - but definitely not criminal intent," he told the court.

"It was as if we had become fugitives and terrorists overnight."

'We never wanted her to come to harm'

Talking about how the couple felt when their first four children were removed he said: "When someone doesn't have a child around them it affects them psychologically… when a parent loses a child they lose part of themselves."

He told the jury it is "bad enough" to lose Victoria, who he has not "had time to grieve".

"When I was apprehended I was dehydrated, malnourished and completely out of my head," he explained. "It is very important to consider, when you consider this allegation that has been made about us, our state of mind."

As he spoke about the death of "blessed, beautiful baby Victoria", he became emotional and started crying.

He said he was asleep when Marten had been feeding the baby and was in a "state of shock and complete disbelief" when he woke up and was told Victoria was not moving.

"It was a surreal moment for me. She was holding my baby's limp body in her arms," he said.

"At no point in time did we intentionally or recklessly put that baby at harm... We never wanted her to come to harm. I want you to know that," he said.

"We're seen like we are monsters - it is a horrible thing to see your life destroyed... Our names have been dragged through the mud".

"Our baby is dead, she's gone. What more do you want? he asked.

"Don't put people in prison who don't need to be in prison.... We are the ones who have to live with what has happened forever."

"This isn't the right way to handle this case," he told the jurors.

The trial continues.