A mum of five and her convicted rapist partner who took their tiny newborn child to live “off-grid” have today been found guilty of manslaughter.
Aristocrat Constance Marten and partner Mark Gordon were charged with killing their baby Victoria after taking her to live in a tent in a desperate bid to stop her being taken away by social services, the court was told.
The couple were reported missing in early January 2023 and travelled around the UK to try and conceal their whereabouts. Paying hundreds of pounds for taxis, the couple, with the baby, began criss-crossing the country visiting Liverpool, Harwich, London, Colchester and eventually East Sussex amid a major hunt to find them and their newborn baby. They were finally arrested in Brighton last February 27 and baby Victoria’s decomposing body was found by police in a Lidl bag two days later.
The couple stood trial on a host of charges but when a jury was unable to reach verdicts on all of them, a retrial was ordered. Marten took the stand during the trial to say they feared their daughter would be taken “by the state” as their four older children are in care. Gordon decided half way through proceedings to represent himself.
The Old Bailey jury was told the pair camped on the South Downs in wintry conditions last year, after they abandoned their car weeks earlier when it burst into flames near Bolton, Greater Manchester amid the high-profile manhunt.
The jury heard that the couple kept Victoria’s body in a shopping bag for days or even weeks after her death. Marten, 38, told jurors Victoria was born on Christmas Eve 2022, and died on January 9, 2023. The prosecution alleged Victoria died from hypothermia or was smothered while co-sleeping in a “flimsy” tent.
In her evidence, Marten told jurors that the baby died after she “blacked out” and fell asleep over her after feeding her. The court was told the couple were avoiding their fifth child being removed from them amid a high-profile police hunt for the missing baby, with Marten claiming her other children were “stolen by the state”, the Old Bailey previously heard.
Marten comes from a wealthy family with whom she “never really had a strong connection” and eventually became estranged from, the court previously heard. She said that her family were prejudiced towards Gordon and did not approve of their relationship. Marten said that she was living in fear and that her “number one priority” was to protect Victoria.
She told jurors that she has found Victoria’s death “very difficult to live with” but that it “wasn’t due to neglect in any way”. It is alleged Victoria was inadequately clothed in a babygro and that Marten had got wet as she carried the baby underneath her coat.
The prosecution says Victoria died from hypothermia or was smothered while co-sleeping in a “flimsy” tent on the South Downs, despite past warnings. The defendant said that the baby died after she fell asleep over her.
Marten said that she “blacked out” and was “flopped forward” with her head on the floor. Marten told jurors that the tent was intended to be a “pit stop” to avoid “prying eyes”. She wept as she said that she would “turn back time” if she knew Victoria was in danger, adding that they “spent so long trying to protect her”.
She said: “She was on my lap, her head was on one of my forearms, I had flopped forward, my forehead was on the floor of the tent. I fed her and then I burped her and she usually liked to be held for a while. She liked to be held close to us.
“I was holding her on my lap and tapping her to help her sleep and I just woke up in that position. I woke up because I knew something was wrong. I just felt it in my spirit. I brought her out of my jacket and she was completely limp. She was completely limp and she was pale and her lips were a kind of purply colour.”
Marten grew emotional as she went on: “I just knew she wasn’t alive and I felt responsible because I was holding her so my assumption was that I had fallen asleep on her.”
On January 12, Marten and Gordon, 50, went to a Texaco garage where they filled a glass bottle with petrol with the idea of cremating Victoria’s body.
Asked if she reported Victoria’s death, Marten said: “At that stage no I was just… in the movies, I don’t know, accidentally someone dies they panic and they think, oh my gosh… I just thought they were going to say I was some evil mother, a murderess, that sort of thing.”
She said she did not trust the police to carry out an investigation after “such a big media furore around us”. She said she thought “lots of times” about handing herself in. But anytime I thought about it, I just panicked and I saw my other four children and I thought… they are going to chew us out. I don’t trust the police.”
Cross-examining, prosecutor Joel Smith KC then asked her if leaving her daughter’s body in a bag of rubbish was a “despicable thing” to do. Marten objected to his line of questioning, saying that Mr Smith was “diabolical” and a “heartless human being”.
During the retrial, prosecutor Tom Little KC told jurors that in 1989, Gordon, then aged 14, held a woman against her will in Florida for more than four hours and raped her while armed with a “knife and hedge clippers”. Within a month, he entered another property and carried out another offence involving “aggravated battery”, Mr Little said.
Jurors were told that, in February 1994, Gordon received a sentence of 40 years’ imprisonment, of which he served 22 years. Mr Little told jurors that the first set of offences occurred on April 29, 1989, in Florida and consisted of one offence of armed kidnapping, four offences of sexual assault and one offence of armed burglary.
The prosecutor also asked Detective Sergeant Ian Valentine: “Did he attempt to vaginally rape her?”, “did he orally rape her and perform other sexual assault offences?” and “was that female held by him for a period of four-and half-hours against her will in the property”?
Det Sgt Valentine replied “yes” to all the questions. Mr Little said Gordon’s second set of offences occurred on May 21, 1989 and consisted of armed burglary and aggravated battery at a property occupied by a family while armed with a “flat-headed shovel”.
The prosecutor asked the officer: “Once inside the property, did he beat a male occupant with a shovel about the head?” Det Sgt Valentine replied: “Yes.”
Jurors were also told Gordon had pleaded guilty to assaulting two police officers who had been called to a maternity ward in Wales in 2017 after Marten gave birth to one of Victoria’s older siblings. Gordon had to be forcibly restrained during the incident and a new father had stepped in to help the two female officers before more police arrived to arrest him.
Gordon, who represented himself, made no reference to his troubled past but told jurors: “Everybody faces challenges in life.” He said his mother was a hard-working nurse who was passionate and empathetic and had instilled compassion in him. He had 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 his earlier evidence, Gordon blamed the police manhunt for setting off a series of “calamitous” events culminating in Victoria’s death. He insisted that he and Marten “put ourselves out” to ensure the baby’s wellbeing and “no-one could have anticipated” her death.
In an emotional outburst in the witness box, Gordon had complained they were treated like “monsters” and dragged through the mud like “scum” over what happened and had not had time to grieve for their child.
Marten and Gordon both denied manslaughter by gross negligence of their daughter Victoria between January 4 and February 27, last year. The defendants, of no fixed address, also denied perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child, child cruelty, and causing or allowing the death of a child.
A first jury was discharged after being unable to reach a verdict on the charges of manslaughter by gross negligence and causing or allowing the death of a child. The first jury found both Marten and Gordon guilty of perverting the course of justice and concealing the birth of a child.