Aristocrat’s trial: Partner refuses to take the stand over death of newborn

A FATHER accused of killing his baby refused to take the stand yesterday despite promising police he would reserve his ‘live testimony’ for the jury.

Mark Gordon, 49, declined to answer questions when he was arrested with his aristocrat lover Constance Marten, 36, after nearly two months on the run with their newborn girl.

Officers were desperate to find and save the infant after the family spent weeks camping in freezing temperatures on the South Downs. Her body wasn’t found for another two days dumped in a shopping bag under a pile of rubbish in a shed.

But Gordon refused to help at the time, demanding food and drink around 50 times during his first police interview.

When his daughter’s body was found, Gordon insisted that he would reveal what had happened only to a jury, saying he didn’t want police ‘ polluting the strength of justice’.

‘I will happily tell the jury the truth and that’s all I’m going to say,’ he told officers. ‘The only people that I trust with the truth is those jury members in the court room and the judge.’

But yesterday when it came to his chance to give evidence at the Old Bailey about the death of his child, Victoria, it seemed Gordon had changed his mind.

The Recorder of London, Judge Mark Lucraft KC, told jurors Gordon had indicated he was prepared to give evidence on Friday, but since then he has ‘had a change of mind’.

Gordon’s barrister, John FemiOla KC, provided no explanation, saying simply: ‘My Lord, I do not call the defendant.’ Earlier, jurors were provided with a transcript of Gordon’s police interview on March 2, 2023, when he said: ‘I reserve the right to give live testimony before the jury. I believe the jury is best placed to make a decision in this case.

‘I want the jury to hear firsthand testimony and make the decision. I love the jury system.

‘I may have testimony but this testimony is for the jury, not for you detective.’ In a speech referencing the Magna Carta, Gordon added: ‘The jury will hear my side of the story.’

The pair, who were arrested near Brighton last February, deny manslaughter by gross negligence, concealment of the birth of a child, cruelty to a person under 16 and perverting the course of justice.

They also deny causing or allowing the death of a child. The trial continues.

‘He has had a change of mind’