The partner of wealthy aristocrat Constance Marten has blamed a national police manhunt for the loss of the baby he said they loved, saying they had been “deranged” at the time.
Marten, 38, and Mark Gordon, 50 are charged with the manslaughter of their baby daughter Victoria who died in a tent on the South Downs in early 2023.
The court has heard how the couple had fled from authorities to avoid their fifth child being taken into care amid a high-profile police hunt for Victoria.
The prosecution alleges Victoria died from hypothermia or was smothered while co-sleeping in the “flimsy” tent, despite past warnings.
On Wednesday, Gordon said the baby would still be alive had the police not pursued them after their car burst into flames on a motorway near Bolton.
Giving evidence, 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? There was no hiding, running, off the grid.”
He said police should have considered their “panicked” state of mind when they found their burned-out car.
“If you have a woman who has just given birth to a child … why chase them if there is fragility? 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.
He added: “It is bad enough losing your baby. I have not had time to grieve and I am in a state of shock.”
Wearing a blue shirt and pink headscarf, Gordon became at times teary and was handed tissues while giving evidence.
He told jurors there had been “a range of calamitous events, one after the other” that had led to Victoria’s death, and that there was “never any intention on anyone’s behalf to be deceptive”.
The defendant said: “When someone doesn’t have a child around them it impacts them psychologically. When a parent loses a child they lose a part of themselves.
“It was heavy on us. It is important that this is understood – there was hurt, there was pain. It makes you behave in a certain way.”
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.”
Gordon told jurors the baby was always carried by either him or Marten, and that Victoria rarely cried during her short life.
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, the defendant said.
He said there was not much wind, their clothes were dry and “it wasn’t really that cold” when they pitched their tent in farmland later that day.
Before Victoria died on January 9 2023, Gordon said they held her close to feel her breathing and heart beating.
“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.”
Judge Mark Lucraft KC asked Gordon to tell jurors how Victoria died.
Gordon 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 a resuscitate the baby.”
Gordon became emotional as he described his “pain” that his “beautiful baby girl will never get to live and experience life”.
Weeping, 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.”
Representing himself after his barrister withdrew from the case, Gordon earlier denied he had an underprivileged upbringing, saying: “Everybody faces challenges in life.”
He told jurors his mother was a hard-working nurse who was passionate and empathetic and had instilled those values in him.
He said: “The idea I was underprivileged was not the case. My mother had two or three houses. She always provided for us. She showed me empathy.
“In regard to my beautiful wife, who is nothing more than a passionate strong individual, she is nothing but kind and wonderful to me and meeting her was one of the best things that ever happened to me.
“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.”
Gordon told jurors the couple had previously worked with social services and “believed in them”, but were subjected to “such suffering and such discrimination” when their other children were taken away from them.
He said on one occasion, the couple were approached by a private investigator in a Pret a Manger coffee shop when they were living in London.
He told jurors that personal choice was “paramount”, adding: “If you feel you are being pursued, what can you do?”
The defendant said he and Marten were “not silly people” but that their minds were “warped” by what had happened to them.
He added: “It led us to making not wise decisions.”
Gordon told jurors he had “grave reservations” about the course of action that they 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.”
On his reason for giving evidence, Gordon said: “I did not want to take the stand but I felt it was imperative I tell the jury what happened in this case, hopefully resolve issues.”
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.
Previously, Marten gave evidence after complaining about a headache and toothache, but called time last Tuesday midway through cross-examination.
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.
