Mark Gordon is not giving evidence in his trial in which he and aristocrat Constance Marten are accused over the death of their baby girl, a jury has been told.
Baby Victoria was found in a Lidl “bag for life” in allotments in the Hollingdean area of Brighton just over two years ago.
Marten, 37, and Gordon, 50, are on trial for manslaughter at the Central Criminal Court, better known as the Old Bailey, in London.
Their daughter died after they went off-grid in early 2023 as a nationwide hunt for the couple and their newborn infant was under way.
The court was told that the couple had travelled from the north of England to the south coast to avoid their fifth child being taken into care – as happened with their first four children.
It is alleged that Victoria was inadequately clothed in a babygrow and that Marten had got wet as she carried the baby underneath her coat.
The prosecution alleges that Victoria died from hypothermia or was smothered while co-sleeping in an unsuitable and “flimsy” tent on the South Downs, despite previous warnings about taking similar risks.
The child’s body was discovered with rubbish inside a bag for life in a disused shed in Hollingdean on Wednesday 1 March 2023 – two days after the defendants were arrested near by.
Today (Tuesday 22 April), the court was told that Gordon would not be giving evidence. John Femi-Ola, defending, said: “I do not propose to call Mr Gordon.”
Jurors heard evidence from a consultant in paediatric and perinatal pathology, Srinivas Rao Annavarapu, who was asked to estimate when baby Victoria was born based on the placenta that was found in the defendants’ car on Thursday 5 January 2023.
The consultant said that he believed that it was more likely that the baby was closer to two to three weeks old rather than one to two days old when the placenta was found, based on its condition.
Marten and Gordon, of no fixed address, have denied the gross negligence manslaughter of their daughter and causing or allowing her death between Wednesday 4 January and Monday 27 February 2023.
Jurors have been told that the defendants were convicted at an earlier trial of concealing the birth of a child and perverting the course of justice.
The trial continues.
