Aristocrat Constance Marten’s lover, accused of killing their newborn baby, has refused to appear in court for ‘flouting the Sex Offenders’ Register’ – because ‘he’s got too much back and neck pain’.
Mark Gordon, 49, was due to appear before Bromley Magistrates’ Court to face a charge a charge of failing to comply with the register’s notification requirements.
Gordon, who had appealed to have a previous hearing adjourned in order so he could be legally represented in court, was said to have complained of back and neck pain and asked to see a doctor.
He is due to appear for trial later this month alongside aristocrat partner Marten, 37, after their newborn baby was discovered dead in an allotment shed in Brighton last March.
A countrywide search was launched for the couple and their young baby after they disappeared the previous month.
Aristocrat Constance Marten is facing a charge of manslaughter of gross negligence of her newborn baby daughter who was found dead in Brighton in March last year
Her partner Mark Gordon is also charged with manslaughter by gross negligence and the pair, who deny all allegations, are due to go on trial at London’s Old Bailey on January 22
Marten became estranged from her Dorset-based family after she began a relationship with Gordon in 2016, while she was a drama student.
District judge Vanessa Lloyd told today’s hearing in Bromley: ‘He refused 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 the hearing 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 Marten is due to begin at the Old Bailey in London.
PC Trill said: ‘We are very keen for this to be over, so the sooner the better.”
Asked by the officer what would happen should Gordon continue to refuse to attend court, the judge replied that it was up to prison officers at HMP Belmarsh whether to use ‘reasonable force’ to make him attend.
She told PC Trill: ‘All we can do is keep trying.
‘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.
‘Let’s try again in a week’s time. It will be a further remand into custody, remanded in absence.
‘As before, exceptions to bail are the likelihood of further attending and failing to attend; the seriousness of the offence and his previous record.
‘The Crown is doing everything it can. He won’t be here today.’
The judge adjourned the hearing until next Wednesday.
Marten and Gordon 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.