Constance Marten’s partner suggested they ‘go together on pyre’ after baby death

The partner of wealthy aristocrat Constance Marten has told jurors how he suggested they “all go together on a pyre” after their baby died while sleeping in a tent.

Mark Gordon, 50, said he and Marten, 38, were in a “strange warped world in a state of shock, and abject fear” being “chased like terrorists” in the wake of the tragedy.

Giving evidence on Wednesday, Gordon said he found their daughter Victoria had gone limp on January 9 2023 after they pitched a tent on the South Downs amid a national manhunt.

He said it was a “surreal moment” when Marten told him the baby was not breathing.

“It blows my mind. I cannot recapture how I felt when she was holding my baby’s limp body in her arms. I was in a state of shock and complete disbelief. My first thought was (to) resuscitate the baby.

“I heard like a wheezing, the pulse was gone but the baby was warm to touch.”

Gordon became emotional and wept as he described his “pain” that his “beautiful baby girl will never get to live and experience life”.

He said: “At one point I remarked to my wife we should all go together on a pyre with the baby.

“It’s a horrible thing to be seen like we are being seen, like monsters.

“It’s a horrible thing to see your life destroyed before your very eyes.

“It’s our baby. She died. She’s gone. We have to live with this. Our names have been dragged through the mud like we are scum.”

Appealing to the jury, he said: “We will have to live with this forever. We punished ourselves day in, day out, for that for two years. What more do you want.”

The prosecution alleges Victoria died from hypothermia or was smothered while co-sleeping in the “flimsy” tent on the South Downs, despite past warnings.

The couple had fled from authorities to avoid their fifth child being taken into care after their car burst into flames near Bolton, Greater Manchester, days before.

Gordon said the baby would still be alive had the police not pursued them in a high profile manhunt.

He told jurors: “We had become deranged a little bit. We were off our heads.”

He said: “You have got two people being harassed by forces.

“Against this backdrop, why the national manhunt? When somebody chases you, what do you do?

“If that manhunt had not begun, things would not have happened. I had no intention to live in a tent.

“To chase two parents who love their baby. We did not want the baby to come to harm.

“It was the chase that precipitated these events. We were not in the state of mind where a sound decision can be made.”

Wearing a blue shirt and pink headscarf, Gordon told jurors there had been “a range of calamitous events, one after the other” that had led to Victoria’s death.

He added: “There was no plan to go and live in the forest or live in the woods. It was somewhere to sleep for the night, nothing more than that.

“We decided we can do that for a day and then we can find somewhere more stable.”

The baby was always carried by her parents, ate well and rarely cried during her short life, Gordon said.

There was “a bit of a drizzle” when the couple arrived in Newhaven, East Sussex, by taxi in the early hours of January 8 2023, he said.

But inside the tent, conditions were “satisfactory for a night’s stay” and they were neither damp nor wet as they kept the baby close.

Gordon said: “We both felt more comfortable with her next to us. The baby was secure and safe when she was with one of us.

“She was very feisty and strong. I felt she was a strong-willed baby. She was ok. She was all right.

“It was a safe environment, for us, we would put ourselves out to ensure the baby’s wellbeing.”

He told jurors the baby was their priority “1,000%”, adding: “We would never ever subject that baby to any risk, ever. What happened no-one could have anticipated.”

Representing himself after his barrister withdrew from the case, Gordon earlier described his partner as “a passionate strong individual” who was one of the “best things” to happen in his life.

“It was love and attraction. We made a connection on a level, a soul connection.

“But there were challenges with that. There were forces there that did not necessarily respect that. Respect for people’s personal choices are important.

“That is where some of the issues arose. There were forces that did not agree with us, our position and they made it very difficult for us.

“It has culminated in this courtroom sitting in a dock with 12 jurors deciding our fate,” he said.

He told jurors that personal choice was “paramount”, adding: “If you feel you are being pursued, what can you do?”

Gordon told jurors he had “grave reservations” about the course of action that he and Marten took while in a state of “great distress”.

He said: “It was not something we did out of the idea to go camping in January. There was a suggestion it was something that we chose to do. It was more of a forced situation.

“For us it was a circumstance of our baby being taken away from us. It was a situation unbearable for my wife.

“When the car exploded the way it did it was a crisis upon us. We attempted as far as we could to stay in hotels and to our surprise we were national news and what was our recourse?

“I had grave reservations. I can only say me and my wife were in great distress at the time. Things happened the way they did. It was never my intention when we ended up in the tent.”

Previously, Marten has told jurors that the baby died after she “blacked out” and fell asleep over her after feeding her.

Her body was discovered with rubbish inside a shopping bag in a disused shed near Brighton after the defendants were arrested.

Marten and Gordon, of no fixed address, have denied the gross negligence manslaughter of their daughter and causing or allowing her death between January 4 and 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.