Wealthy aristocrat Constance Marten has told jurors she advised her partner to lie to police about being present when their baby daughter died.

This, she said, was because she thought they would “automatically blame him, being a black guy”.

Marten, 36, is on trial over the death of her newborn daughter Victoria while on the run from authorities with her partner Mark Gordon, 49.

On Monday, she said she and Gordon advised each other to lie to the police about the circumstances around their baby’s death to protect each other.

Victoria died while they were living off grid in a tent on the South Downs in wintry conditions last year.

The court has heard how the defendants fled with the baby after their car burst into flames near Bolton, Greater Manchester, last January 5.

Marten claims her daughter died last January 9, shortly after the couple went to live off grid.

The Bolton News: Court artist sketch of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon at the Old Bailey earlier in the trialCourt artist sketch of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon at the Old Bailey earlier in the trial (Image: Elizabeth Cook/PA)

She said Gordon told her not to tell police that Victoria died while Marten was holding her in her sleep because police would “blame” her.

Marten said she told Gordon to tell police he was not there at the time.

Asked if she advised Gordon to lie to the police, she said: “Yes, I’m very protective over my husband because I feel that he gets blamed for everything.”

She added: “I thought they were going to automatically blame him, being a black guy, and I am the good one usually.”

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Asked if it was fair to say that Gordon advised her to lie and she advised him to lie in order to protect each other, Marten said: “Yes.”

When they were arrested in Brighton last February 27, they had refused to answer officers’ urgent questions about where their baby was and whether she was alive or dead.

Victoria’s remains were found by police in a Lidl bag inside a shed on a nearby allotment on March 1 2023.

The defendants, of no fixed address, deny manslaughter by gross negligence, perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child, child cruelty and causing or allowing the death of a child.