Fugitive aristocrat was a good mother and did nothing wrong, partner told police

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.

On Tuesday, jurors viewed in the courtroom a blue tent and two sleeping bags said to be identical to the items bought by Gordon at Argos.

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.