Aristocrat Constance Marten’s Birmingham partner Mark Gordon refuses to appear at court

The Birmingham partner of an aristocrat accused of the manslaughter of their newborn baby refused to appear in court today (Wednesday, January 3).

Mark Gordon, 49, who was due to appear to face a charge of failing to comply with notification requirements of the sex offenders' register, claimed to be suffering extreme back and neck pain.

Gordon, who had appealed to have a previous hearing adjourned in order to be legally represented in court, was said to have complained of back and neck pain and requested to see a doctor.

District Judge Vanessa Lloyd said she believed Gordon was using his pain as a ‘mechanism’ not to delay the hearing of his case. She said: “He refused [to attend court] last week. He will keep refusing because they can’t compel him to come.

“He’s using this as a mechanism… We are not going to see him today. I have a message from the prison that says he’s refusing because he’s in too much pain. We will have to adjourn again.”

The Judge said Gordon was waiting to be seen by a doctor for his ‘extreme’ back and neck pain. Police Constable Rhianne Trill, the Met Police’s officer in the case, told Bromley Magistrates’ Court officers were ‘turned away’ despite possessing a warrant to produce Gordon in court.

She added that the Met wanted the charge dealt with before January 22, when Gordon’s trial alongside aristocrat partner Constance Marten, 37, is due to begin at the Old Bailey. PC Trill said: “[Gordon’s] trial starts on January 22. We are very keen for this to be over, so the sooner the better.”

Asked by PC Trill about what would happen should Gordon continue to refuse to attend court, DJ Lloyd replied that it was up to prison officers at HMP Belmarsh whether to use ‘reasonable force’ to make him attend.

“All we can do is keep trying,” she told PC Trill. They did have a warrant, they did send a van… He won’t go to a video hearing, either. It’s a matter for the prison to decide whether to use reasonable force - but I can’t order them to use anything more than that, and they won’t, because they’re putting their staff at risk."

DJ Lloyd adjourned the hearing until next Wednesday (January 10). Gordon is due to appear for trial later this month alongside aristocrat partner Ms Marten after their newborn baby was discovered dead in an allotment shed in Brighton, East Sussex, in March last year.

A countrywide search was launched for the couple and their young baby after they disappeared in February. Ms Marten became estranged from her Dorset-based family in response to her beginning a relationship with Gordon in 2016, whilst she was a drama student.

The pair both deny charges of manslaughter by gross negligence of their daughter, perverting the course of justice by concealing her body, concealing the birth of the child, child cruelty and allowing the death of the child.