‘Constance Marten’s associate advised police fugitive was a very good mom’
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The associate of fugitive aristocrat Constance Marten advised police she was a ‘good mom’ and had ‘executed nothing fallacious’ when questioned in regards to the dying of their new child child, their trial has heard.
Mark Gordon, 49, and Marten are accused of killing their daughter Victoria in January final 12 months because the couple tried to forestall her being taken away by social companies.
Gordon and 36-year-old Marten had been arrested in Brighton some seven weeks after happening the run with the kid, the courtroom heard.
The couple had spent almost two months tent tenting within the bitterly chilly South Downs earlier than Victoria, sporting solely a onesie, allegedly froze to dying. Her physique was later present in a Lidl grocery store bag inside a disused shed on an allotment.
Gordon advised police he believed Marten was affected by ‘a post-traumatic factor’ when Victoria died and that ‘she would by no means do something to hurt a toddler’, jurors heard as we speak.
He claimed they’d needed to ‘safeguard’ the kid, the ‘complete factor’ was for her and what occurred couldn’t have been predicted.
Marten and Gordon, of no mounted handle, deny manslaughter, perverting the course of justice, concealing the start of a kid, little one cruelty and inflicting or permitting the dying of a kid.
The associate of fugitive aristocrat Constance Marten (pictured) advised police she was a ‘good mom’ and had ‘executed nothing fallacious’ when questioned in regards to the dying of their new child child Victoria, her trial has heard
Mark Gordon, 49, (pictured) advised police he believed Marten was affected by ‘a post-traumatic factor’ when Victoria died and that ‘she would by no means do something to hurt a toddler’, jurors heard as we speak
Gordon, pictured alongside Marten in a courtroom sketch from as we speak, claimed the couple had needed to ‘safeguard’ the kid, the ‘complete factor’ was for her and what occurred couldn’t have been predicted
Gordon initially refused to reply questions when he and Marten had been arrested final 12 months, the Old Bailey was advised as we speak.
In a March 2 police interview, Gordon began by saying he would give his testimony to a jury. A detective then advised him that Marten had confirmed a child who was discovered useless the day earlier than was their daughter Victoria, the courtroom heard.
Gordon was additionally knowledgeable that Marten had defined the kid died after she fell asleep holding her however that he had suggested her to say it was a ‘cot dying’, jurors heard.
After consulting along with his lawyer, Gordon mentioned that ‘barring a number of nuances’ that was what occurred. He advised police: ‘It needed to be very traumatic for her, it’s important to perceive I like her. I like her.
‘I’d do something for her and she or he loves kids and that is our fifth little one and we needed to have that little one.’
He advised officers that he believed Marten was affected by PTSD when the newborn died after she fell asleep together with her in her arms.
‘She is a really particular individual. She’s an superior girl and she or he would by no means do something to hurt a toddler underneath any circumstances,’ he mentioned.
He added that Marten was a ‘stunning, clever girl’ and he was a ‘man who loves his spouse’.
‘I like her, I’d do something for her and we needed to have that little one, it is her little one,’ Gordon advised police.
‘She has truly skilled the post-traumatic misery and she or he was in a scenario the place she was fairly susceptible and that led to issues that had been by no means predictable on both of our elements.
‘And it is an unlucky, unhappy, very unhappy factor.’
In footage proven throughout the trial, Marten is seen maintaining the newborn underneath her coat earlier than unzipping it and exposing her in east London on January 7
Jurors had been proven little Victoria’s face (centre) for the primary time final month as her mother and father Constance Marten (proper) and Mark Gordon (left) sat inside a kebab store
The heartbreaking second the physique of a lacking new child lady was discovered inside a Lidl grocery store bag has been proven on the trial of aristocrat Constance Marten
The defendant insisted there was ‘nothing sinister’ or ‘darkish’ and mentioned that typically the media made issues appear ‘worse than what they’re’.
Gordon advised officers: ‘What have I executed that you do not suppose is true right here?
‘I’ve executed every thing I believe proper. If you take heed to me, I’ve executed nothing actually fallacious. I’ve supported my spouse. Tried my finest to be a husband. And I do not suppose she has executed something fallacious, truly, in making an attempt to handle her little one.’
He added: ‘But I believe within the circumstances, the automotive exploding, and it’s important to perceive 4 kids have gone to social companies, she’s a very good mom and I do not suppose they’d precise purpose to do what they did.
‘We had provision, a number of provisions, the newborn was taken care of. But then she defined what occurred and it was a really, very critical and unlucky factor that occurred and nobody may ever have anticipated or seemed into glass and see what occurred and I hate that it occurred the way in which it has.
‘The reality is I do love her very a lot and I do not discover her to be at blame in any respect as a result of she was in post-traumatic stress.’
An picture dated January 5, 2023 from the Metropolitan Police of Mark Gordon and Constance Marten’s burning Peugeot 206 on the M61, which was performed in courtroom throughout their trial
An image introduced throughout the trial, exhibits the burnt out Peugeot 206 on the facet of the M61
An image exhibits the within of the couple’s burnt out automotive. The child’s placenta was discovered within the automobile, the Old Bailey heard
Pictured is the shed in Lower Roedale Allotments, East Sussex, the place a Lidl bag was discovered which contained the physique of child Victoria. The picture was proven in courtroom throughout the trial of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon
A picture of child clothes present in a Lidl bag in a shed in Lower Roedale Allotments, East Sussex which included the physique of Victoria
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The courtroom additionally heard how the couple went lacking with their new child child after their automotive burst into flames close to Bolton, Greater Manchester, final January.
Gordon advised police throughout his interview that the automotive ‘exploded out of nowhere’ and that in ‘hindsight’ they need to have stayed with the automobile to ‘deal’ with the scenario.
Victoria’s placenta was discovered within the exploded automobile on a Manchester motorway, sparking an enormous police hunt, the Old Bailey heard.
It is alleged that they slept in a tent ‘off-grid’ in a bid to maintain the newborn, after Marten’s 4 different kids had been taken into care.
Last March 1, Victoria’s stays had been present in a Lidl grocery store bag inside a disused shed on an allotment.
On Tuesday, jurors considered within the courtroom a blue tent and two sleeping luggage mentioned to be an identical to the gadgets purchased by Gordon at Argos.
The tent, which measures 4 foot six inches by six foot eight inches, was carried in the direction of the jury by the courtroom usher and a police officer and positioned beside the decide.
Prosecutor Tom Little, KC, invited jurors to method the tent and really feel the thickness of the fabric.
Jurors bent right down to look contained in the tent and felt the fabric within the doorway. Two jurors climbed contained in the small tent collectively.
A juror then despatched a be aware to the decide asking how tall Marten and Gordon are.
Two sleeping luggage from Argos, the identical as two the defendants additionally bought, had been then handed round for the jury to feel- an grownup blue sleeping bag with stars on and a kids’s sleeping bag with rainbows and unicorns on.
Jurors then requested to be supplied with a Lidl bag for all times an identical to the one Victoria was present in.
The jury was additionally supplied with a listing of the very best and lowest temperatures every day at climate stations close to to the areas the couple slept.
The temperatures ranged from minus 4.3 levels to 11.3 levels.
Meteorologist Dr Richard Wild advised the courtroom that the realm the couple slept in had a traditional quantity of rain in January 2023 for the time of 12 months.
But the climate professional mentioned that February 2023 was ‘considerably drier than common’ within the space, with a few fifth of the rainfall of a mean February.
Bodycamera footage exhibits the second detectives confronted Marten. Police repeatedly requested her ‘the place is your little one?’ within the footage after she and Gordon had been tracked down
A display screen seize taken from physique worn digital camera footage issued by the Metropolitan Police exhibits the second Mark Gordon was arrested on the street
CCTV footage of Constance Marten shopping for provides at Texaco in Newhaven, which was proven in courtroom throughout their tria
CCTV footage of Constance Marten filling a bottle with petrol at Texaco in Newhaven, which was proven in courtroom throughout the trial
Marten and Gordon met in a store in London 2016 and received married in a ceremony in Peru, not recognised in UK legislation, a few 12 months or two later.
They had 4 kids in fast succession who had been all taken into care after Marten fell from a window and social service believed Gordon pushed her, she advised police.
The couple deny the manslaughter of Victoria by gross negligence, concealment of the start of a kid, cruelty to an individual underneath 16 and perverting the course of justice by disposing of the physique.
Marten comes from a rich aristocratic household and her father was a web page to Queen Elizabeth II.
She advised police her household employed personal investigators after she met Gordon and had been working with social companies for years making an attempt to ‘get entangled’ with the youngsters.
The Old Bailey trial continues.
