Marten’s partner tells court baby died due to manhunt

Gordon admitted couple were deranged’ when living in tent

- HOLLY EVANS

The father of a baby found decomposed in a shopping bag has blamed a national police manhunt for the death of his and his partner Constance Marten’s child.

Mark Gordon, 50, said that he and his aristocrat wife, 37, had become “deranged a bit” when they decided to live off-grid, and also said their newborn would “100 per cent” be alive if they had not been avoiding the police.

The couple are on trial, charged with the manslaughter of their baby daughter Victoria, who died on the South Downs in early 2023 following a large-scale police search. The prosecution alleges Victoria died from hypothermia or was smothered while co-sleeping in the “flimsy” tent, despite past warnings.

Judge Mark Lucraft KC previously told the jurors that from now on, Gordon was going to represent himself after his barristers withdrew from the case.

Taking to the witness stand, Gordon blamed the decision for the police to launch a manhunt to search for them, saying: “If it had naturally played out, I believe the baby would still be alive today, 100 per cent, because ultimately we would have done the right thing.”

He said that he and Marten were already in a “scared state” after accusing private investigators of trailing them, and felt that they were “being harassed by various forces and this impacted our minds”.