Mark Gordon blames child’s loss of life on police manhunt, courtroom hears

Mark Gordon has blamed the police manhunt for the loss of life of his new child child Victoria.

“If it had naturally played out, I believe the baby would have been alive today,” the courtroom heard as he gave proof for the primary time right through his retrial on the Old Bailey in London.

Gordon, 50, and his spouse Constance Marten, 38, deny manslaughter by way of gross negligence and inflicting or permitting the loss of life of a kid.

Their daughter’s decomposed frame used to be present in a buying groceries bag in a Brighton allotment shed in March 2023, two months once they went at the run.

During the former trial, Marten and Gordon have been discovered responsible of concealing Victoria’s delivery and perverting the process justice by way of no longer reporting her loss of life.

Gordon now not has barristers to constitute him, so the pass judgement on Mark Lucraft KC requested him questions to guide him thru his proof.

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

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

Wearing a blue blouse and a peach headwrap, he advised the jury that personal detectives employed by way of Marten’s circle of relatives have been following them and staring at them.

Explaining why he and Marten began residing in resorts and vacation shall we ahead of and after the delivery in their 5th kid Victoria, he stated “she wanted some time with the baby” and the couple by no means would have predicted what went directly to occur.

“It was a range of calamitous events, one after the other,” he stated.

It used to be after their automobile stuck fireplace in January 2023 that police realised the couple had any other child, resulting in detectives launching a public attraction for the couple.

Gordon advised 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 stated.

“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 requested.

“We are not silly people. We are not irresponsible people.

“My place is firmly is that had the manhunt no longer taken position, those instances do not have took place.

“Paranoia – call it what you want – but definitely not criminal intent,” he advised the courtroom.

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

Talking about how the couple felt when their first 4 kids have been got rid of he stated: “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 advised the jury it’s “bad enough” to lose Victoria, who he has no longer “had time to grieve”.

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

As he spoke concerning the loss of life of “blessed, beautiful baby Victoria”, he become emotional and began crying.

He stated he used to be asleep when Marten were feeding the child and used to be in a “state of shock and complete disbelief” when he awoke and used to be advised Victoria used to be no longer shifting.

“It was a surreal moment for me. She was holding my baby’s limp body in her arms,” he stated.

“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 stated.

“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 other people in jail who do not want to be in jail…. We are those who need to reside with what has took place eternally.”

“This is not learn how to take care of this situation,” he told the jurors.

The trial continues.