The partner of runaway aristocrat Constance Marten has decided not to give evidence at their trial over the death of their newborn baby daughter.
Mark Gordon, 49, was expected to start giving evidence at the Old Bailey on Monday, to be questioned about the couple’s disappearance in late December 2022.
He and Marten are accused of the manslaughter of baby Victoria, who is believed to have been born while they were on the run from authorities.
The baby’s body was recovered last February from a disused shed, where it had been left in a Lidl bag-for-life and under a pile of rubbish and nappies.
In court, Gordon’s barrister John Femi-Ola KC told jurors on Monday morning: “I do not call the defendant.”
Judge Mark Lucraft KC, the Recorder of London, confirmed that Gordon has been advised that this is his chance to give evidence in the trial, and that jurors “may draw any inferences as appear proper from his failure to do so”.
The judge sent the jury away again, saying enquiries are now being made on whether expert evidence due to be heard in Gordon’s case can be brought forward.
Marten, 36, who hails from a wealthy aristocratic family, is accused with Gordon of subjecting their newborn baby to freezing cold conditions when they camped out on the South Downs in a “flimsy” tent.
It is said they went on the run after their four other children had been taken into care, fearing the same would happen to Victoria.
The couple allegedly did not have sufficient food or clothing to keep the tot safe.
In police interviews, the couple insisted that their baby had died in mid-January last year, after only a few days of life, and before the couple spent a long period of time camping.
They say she died in her sleep after being well cared for, and efforts to revive her were unsuccessful.
The trial has heard evidence of the couple’s initial disappearance, their flight from a car fire, and taxi rides across the country as they tried to stay “off grid”.
They were ultimately arrested in the Brighton area after baby Victoria’s death.
The defendants, of no fixed address, deny manslaughter by gross negligence, perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child, child cruelty and causing or allowing the death of a child.
The trial continues.
