Constance Marten is sharing a prison ward with notorious baby killer Lucy Letby but has made a bizarre request to officials as sources call her “deluded”
Constance Marten was jailed for 14 years for the gross negligence manslaughter of her baby who was found in a shopping bag in Brighton in 2023. Marten, 38, was sentenced on Monday at the Old Bailey, alongside her partner Mark Gordon, 51.
The decomposed body of their baby, Victoria, led to a manhunt for the pair after they went on the run. Now Marten, raised in one of the UK’s finest stately homes, Critchel House in Dorset, is prisoner A9624X at tough HMP Bronzefield in Surrey.
Ex-nurse Lucy Letby, 35, is serving a whole life order in the same prison for the murders of seven infants and the attempted murders of seven others. And it’s thought the pair’s paths have crossed on multiple occasions.
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The pair are serving their sentences on the jail’s Unit 4 alongside tragic 10-year-old Sara Sharif’s Mum Beinash Batool.
Worried officers are thought to be keeping a close eye on Marten amid fears she could harm herself or be attacked following the sentencing.
A source told The Sun: “She has reacted to the sentence very badly and thought she would get off much more lightly.
“Since returning to jail from the Old Bailey, Constance has basically cowered in her cell and tried not to come out. She knows she is a target because of her high-profile and notoriety.”
Marten has also asked to be moved from the same ward as killers Letby and Batool. “She thinks her crime is much less serious than theirs and views them as killers – although that’s exactly what she is,” the source added.
“It has been explained to her that she is in the same category as them, and would be in much more danger on a different unit.”
Marten’s barrister Tom Godfrey told the court on Monday: “The sorrow that Constance Marten feels is incalculable.”
He added: “She has, ever since an early stage, accepted that her baby died as a result of something she did. That fact weighs very heavily on her conscience and will do so for the rest of her life.”
In their trial, the couple had said Victoria’s death was a tragic accident after Marten fell asleep holding the baby – but the prosecution called on evidence from experts on hypothermia, one of whom described the conditions the newborn would have experienced living in a tent in the middle of winter.
They were sentenced on the basis Victoria died of hypothermia – both defendants had argued against that during the hearing.
Her partner Mark Gordon, 51, will serve a further four years on extended licence, the judge said. There was no reaction from either defendant as they were sentenced.
The couple decided to live off grid after discovering Marten was pregnant to avoid Victoria being taken off them by social care authorities.
Their four other children had previously been taken into care.
During the police manhunt that spanned different parts of England once the circumstances of the birth were uncovered, the couple slept outside and took steps to avoid being found, such as taking long taxi rides that criss-crossed the country.
They were eventually located on 27 February 2023, and Victoria was discovered dead two days later in an allotment shed in the Hollingbury area of Brighton.
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