The partner of aristocrat Constance Marten told police she was a “good mother” and had “done nothing wrong” when questioned about the death of their newborn baby.
Mark Gordon, 49, initially refused to answer questions when he and 36-year-old Marten were arrested in Brighton some seven weeks after going on the run with their daughter Victoria.
In a police interview last March 2, he started by saying he would give his testimony to a jury.
A detective then told him that Marten had confirmed a baby who was found dead the day before was their daughter Victoria, the court heard.
Gordon was also informed that Marten had explained the child died after she fell asleep holding her but that he had advised her to say it was a “cot death”, jurors heard.
After consulting with his lawyer, Gordon said that “barring a few nuances” that was what happened.
Gordon told police: “It had to be very traumatic for her, you have to understand I love her. I love her.
“I would do anything for her and she loves children and that’s our fifth child and we wanted to have that child.”
Gordon suggested Marten was suffering from “a post-traumatic thing”.
“She is a very special person. She’s an awesome woman and she would never do anything to harm a child under any circumstances,” he said.
He told police that they had wanted to “safeguard” the child, the “whole thing” was for her and what happened could not have been predicted.
Gordon told officers: “What have I done that you don’t think is right here?
“I have done everything I think right. If you listen to me, I have done nothing really wrong. I have supported my wife. Tried my best to be a husband.
“And I don’t think she has done anything wrong, actually, in trying to take care of her child.”
He added that Marten was a “beautiful, intelligent woman” and he was a “man who loves his wife”.
The defendant insisted there was “nothing sinister” or “dark” and said that sometimes the media made things seem “worse than what they are”.
The court has heard how the couple went missing with their newborn baby after their car burst into flames near Bolton, Greater Manchester, last January.
It is alleged that they slept in a tent “off-grid” in a bid to keep the baby, after Marten’s four other children were taken into care.
Last March 1, Victoria’s remains were found in a Lidl supermarket bag inside a disused shed on an allotment.
Marten and Gordon, of no fixed address, deny manslaughter, perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child, child cruelty and causing or allowing the death of a child.
The Old Bailey trial continues.
a good mother???? shouldn’t a good mother provide safe accommodation??????????
I’m not being funny but a good mother would be the first to realise that you can’t keep a new born in a tent in minus conditions! These two are talking as if they were good parents and were traumatised by what happened? I have been through something like this before and believe me you wouldn’t act the way these 2 did at the death of a child. Further more, any pity they did have for the child was proven worthless when they dumped the poor little might in a shopping bag in a shed. How anybody could do this is beyond me. No doubt they will be found guilty, but it’s doubtful that they will receive more than between 3 & 8 years in prison which means the pair of them will be out again within a few years and could possibly do it all again. The punishment for crimes like this should be a lot more.