Mark Gordon to represent himself in trial over death of baby girl, court told
Judge Mark Lucraft KC told jurors at the Old Bailey that Gordon’s previous barrister John Femi-Ola KC has ‘withdrawn’ from the case.
Mark Gordon will represent himself in his trial in which he and aristocrat Constance Marten are accused over the death of their baby girl, a court heard.
On Tuesday, Judge Mark Lucraft KC told jurors at the Old Bailey that Gordon’s previous barrister John Femi-Ola KC has “withdrawn” from the case and that the defendant has chosen to represent himself going forward.
Gordon will submit the questions he wishes to ask during the trial and jurors were told to return to the court on Wednesday.
Marten, 37, and her partner Gordon, 50, deny the gross negligence manslaughter of their daughter Victoria and causing or allowing her death between January 4 and February 27 2023.
On Friday, Marten gave evidence and Tom Godfrey – who was the junior barrister in her defence team with Francis FitzGibbon KC as the leading silk – was the one to ask his client questions.
Judge Lucraft told jurors at the start of the day’s proceedings: “The eagle-eyed amongst you may notice Mr FitzGibbon is not here and the eagle-eyed will see it is going to be Mr Godfrey who will be asking further questions of Ms Marten going forward.
“Please do not concern yourselves as to the reasons this has happened.”
The couple were avoiding their fifth child being removed from them amid a high-profile police hunt for the missing baby, with Marten claiming her other children were “stolen by the state”, the Old Bailey previously heard.
It is alleged Victoria was inadequately clothed in a babygrow and that Marten had got wet as she carried the baby underneath her coat.
The prosecution says Victoria died from hypothermia or was smothered while co-sleeping in a “flimsy” tent on the South Downs, despite past warnings.
The child’s body was discovered with rubbish inside a shopping bag in a disused shed near Brighton after the defendants were arrested on February 27 2023.
Jurors have been told the defendants were convicted at an earlier trial of concealing the birth of a child and perverting the course of justice.
The trial continues.
