A RUNAWAY aristocrat and her lover have been jailed for killing their baby daughter while on the run from police.
Constance Marten, 37, and Mark Gordon, 50, lived off-grid with baby Victoria after their four previous children were taken into care.
Constance Marten has been jailed over her baby’s death
Central NewsMark Gordon was also locked up for killing the tot[/caption]
Central NewsThe baby was taken across England as her parents evaded police[/caption]
The tragic tot died while living in a tent in the South Downs with hardly any clothes or “means of keeping or remaining warm”.
Victoria, who spent “much of her life” in a Lidl bag for life, was later discovered dead inside an abandoned shed.
Marten and Gordon have now been jailed for 14 years after they were convicted of gross negligence manslaughter.
The couple were also found guilty of concealing their daughter’s birth and perverting the course of justice.
Gordon was also handed a four-year period on extended licence.
A 54-day hunt was launched for the pair after their burning car was discovered on the M61 motorway in Greater Manchester on January 5, 2023.
Officers found placenta wrapped in a towel, “new baby” nappies and newborn clothing, as well as “burner phones”.
A missing person‘s enquiry was launched as the couple travelled across the UK with CCTV piecing together their movements.
At the sentencing, Constance’s step-dad Guy Sellier said in a letter read out to court: “I have known Constance since 1998 when I met and eventually married her mother. I had a close relationship with her until she met Mark Gordon and became estranged from the wider family.
“Constance is a rather fascinating woman. Fiercely independent. At times rebellious but with a big heart. Much empathy and a keen sense of adventure.
“She’s fundamentally a very generous and kind person.”
In mitigation, Constance’s barrister Thomas Godfrey added: “The sorrow Ms Marten feels is incalculable. She has from an early stage accepted that her baby died as a result of something that she did.
“That fact weighs heavily on her conscience and will do so for the rest of her life.
“We submit that this court can accept that sadness and remorse as entirely genuine.
“The sorrow and grief of Constance Marten is described in Dr Hillier’s report.
“Ms Marten experienced mild depressive episodes within the context of the depressive disorder at the time of the assessment. She continues to meet diagnostic criteria for complex post-traumatic stress disorder.
“It’s very likely that Ms Marten’s CPTSD was present during the period and triggered by the death of the baby.
“Ms Marten’s reported behaviour following the death of the baby might be consistent with the process of grief, complicated by trauma.
“In the opinion of Dr Hillier, he says ‘in my opinion Ms Marten demonstrated a history of and current signs and symptoms of CPTSD.”
He added: “Her disorder did impair her ability to make rational choices and to understand the nature and consequences of her actions. “
And he said: “In her desire to keep Victoria, she neglected her. There is no suggestion the harm was intentional and Ms Marten has paid the ultimate price.”
Prosecutor Tom Little KC earlier said the case involved a “young baby girl who undoubtedly would still be alive if it was not for the reckless and ultimately grossly negligent conduct of the two defendants in the dock”.
He continued: “They were the parents of that young baby girl, but they put their relationship and their views of life before the life of that little baby girl.
“Rather than act in the obvious best interest of a vulnerable baby, because all babies are vulnerable when they are but some days old, they decided as they had often done before that they knew best, they knew better than anyone else.
“They decided to ignore the advice they had previously been given and decide that in the middle of winter and in obviously dangerous conditions they would deprive their baby of what she needed – warmth, shelter protection, food and ultimately one word – safety.”
The court heard Marten and Gordon had five babies in seven years, with four removed and taken into care.
Marten gave birth to Victoria without seeking any medical assistance in early 2022 and kept her “their little secret”.
During the trial, it was revealed that Gordon was convicted of a series of sexual offences – including rape – while living in the US.
Gordon, who was 14 at the time, broke into the house of a next door neighbour wearing a nylon stocking over his face and armed with a knife and hedge clippers.
PAThe remains of newborn Victoria were found in a disused shed in Brighton[/caption]
PAPolice made the tragic find days after Marten and partner Mark Gordon refused to say where their baby was[/caption]
PAThey had been living off-grid in a tent[/caption]
He demanded the woman undress and attempted to rape her before carrying out the vile offences in the April 1989 horror.
On May 21 the same year, Gordon broke into another home with a shovel and battered a man inside.
The fiend was sentenced in the US to 40 years in prison, of which he served 22 years.
In 2017, Gordon was convicted of assaulting two female police officers at a maternity unit in Wales.
Jurors were not told that Gordon was also suspected of a incident of domestic violence in 2019 which left Marten with a shattered spleen.
Gordon had refused paramedics entry into their London flat.
PAMarten was filmed filling up a bottle with petrol a week after their burnt out car was found[/caption]
PAShe also purchased sweets and Mini Cheddars[/caption]
PAScorched baby clothes were among the belongings found in the vehicle[/caption]
She spent eight days in hospital then tired to discharge herself, with Gordon’s support, it was alleged.
When Marten became pregnant she kept it secret after a family court ruled a child would be removed from them.
The defendants fled, leaving behind the family cat named Sasha in a box, around £2,000 in cash, 34 “burner” phones and other belongings.
From Liverpool the couple paid a taxi driver £350 to take them 270 miles away to Harwich in Essex.
Cops said the reason for them choosing this location is unclear, but it is thought they may have been trying to leave the country by boat.
They also paid £475 for a taxi to Newhaven in East Sussex on January 8 2023.
Marten, whose family lived at Dorset estate Crichel House, received nearly £19,000 in payments into her account from the trust while on the run.
Her father was a page to the late Queen, while her grandmother was a goddaughter to the Queen Mother.
Despite her connections, the couple chose to “deprive the baby of what she needed” – including “warmth, shelter and food and ultimately safety”.
In the middle of a “cold winter and in cruel and obviously dangerous weather conditions”, the pair “essentially went off-grid”.
With “scarcely” any food, Marten and Gordon remained on the run, failed to seek medical assistance or even register the birth as they moved from “location to location”.
CCTV pieced together the pair’s movements as they lived in a tent with barely any clothes and no means of keeping warm and dry.
On January 12 last year Marten was seen filling up a bottle with petrol before purchasing three packs of Jacob’s Mini Cheddars and a newspaper.
It is believed she planned to cremate baby Victoria after discovering her dead inside her coat but later changed her mind.
Timeline of baby ‘killing’ – how couple evaded cops
CONSTANCE Marten and Mark Gordon allegedly sparked a 54-day manhunt across the UK after vanishing with their baby Victoria.
Here’s how the pair’s journey began…
December 20, 2022
Marten and Gordon booked into a holiday cottage in Northumberland, with the rental due to end on Boxing Day. The owner told jurors he found the property in “something of a state” on December 28.
December 24, 2022
The couple claim their baby daughter was born this day but this has been disputed by prosecutors.
December 28, 2022
Their Suzuki broke down on the M18 motorway so a recovery driver took them to a nearby Sainsbury’s. There was allegedly no sign of the baby but the back and side windows of the car had been blocked by clothing.
January 4, 2023
Marten and Gordon checked into the Ibis hotel at the Lymm Services in Cheshire then later the AC Hotel in Manchester.
January 5, 2023
The couple’s Peugeot 206 catches fire on the M61 motorway in Greater Manchester. Police launch an urgent probe after finding placenta, burner phones and Marten’s passport, jurors were told.
She and Gordon are taken to a Morrisons store in Bolton by a member of the public before being seen on CCTV at the nearby Bolton Interchange station.
The couple allegedly use Marten’s trust for a taxi to Liverpool, then a £400 cab to Harwich in Essex.
Cab driver Ali Yaryar, who picked the couple up from Liverpool, told the court: “I think the baby had no clothes”.
January 6, 2023
The couple arrive in Harwich and check into a Premier Inn at around 3am. They later move to the Fryatt Hotel, where they paid in cash, it was said.
January 7, 2023
Marten and Gordon travel by taxi to Colchester then to East Ham in London. The couple allegedly buy a buggy from Argos then grab another cab to Whitechapel.
They ate in a Brick Lane restaurant then dump the new buggy – choosing instead to keep Victoria in a Lidl bag, jurors heard.
January 8, 2023
The couple spend £475 on a taxi from Hornsey to Newhaven in East Sussex and walk to the South Downs National Park.
January 9, 2023
Both Marten and Gordon claim baby Victoria died on this day – making her 16 days old, the court was told. It is said there is no way of knowing this for sure.
January 12, 2023
Marten is captured buying snacks and petrol with cash but there was no sign of the baby. Prosecutors say she bought the fuel to cremate the baby but changed her mind.
January 16, 2023
Marten and Gordon are seen setting up a tent in Stanmer Park Nature Reserve in the South Downs despite the cold weather.
February 16/17, 2023
The couple are spotted near Hollingbury Golf Course in rural Sussex allegedly pushing a buggy with no baby. Their tent is later seen in Coldean Lane in Brighton
A driver sees the pair walking towards Stanmer Park with something under Marten’s puffer jacket, the court heard.
February 19, 2023
Gordon and Marten are allegedly seen in their tent in the park with a very young baby with a “wobbly” head. Jurors told the baby had no socks, blanket or hat on.
February 27, 2023
The couple are arrested in Hollingbury Place in Brighton but do not reveal Victoria’s location at first, it is said.
March 1, 2023
Tragic Victoria is found dead in a Lidl bag covered in rubbish inside a disused shed “like refuse”, the court is told.
As temperatures plummeted, Marten and Gordon decided to camp in “obviously dangerous conditions” with “totally insufficient and inadequate clothing and equipment for the baby”.
Police finally tracked the couple down to Brighton on February 27 but they refused to answer where the newborn was.
Tragically, Victoria was already lying dead in the bag for life – hidden under nappies and rubbish.
Dramatic bodycam footage captured the moment police swooped to arrest Marten and Gordon.
Police Sergeant Robert Button approached the dad first, asking him to stop.
When asked why, the officer said: “Well because potentially I think you may have been in the national news.”
PAThe wealthy aristocrat hid her pregnancy and birth[/caption]
Metropolitan PoliceShe claimed she didn’t know where the baby was when she was arrested[/caption]
Shameless Gordon then complained he was hungry and “wasn’t doing anything” – causing Marten to intervene, saying: “Stop with him please, he’s not well.”
The mum continued: “Oh my god, I can’t watch. Leave him alone. Let him eat his food. He’s starving.”
Victoria’s remains were too badly decomposed to establish the cause of death.
But the prosecution argued the couple’s actions – by exposing their baby to extreme cold in a tent – were grossly negligent and Victoria could have died from hypothermia or been smothered and suffocated.
The defendants claimed their daughter’s death was a tragic accident after Marten fell asleep on her.
In her police interview, Marten wept as she claimed the baby’s death was a tragic accident.
She said: “I had her in my jacket and I hadn’t slept properly in quite a few days and erm, I fell asleep holding her sitting up and she, when I woke up, she wasn’t alive.”
The couple kept up the charade in court – regularly pretending to be ill to skip hearings and sacking their barristers.
They were also repeatedly reprimanded for talking to each other during the trials and were often seen blowing kisses at each other.
PAMarten and Gordon will be sentenced at a later date[/caption]
PAPolice finally tracked the couple down to Brighton on February 27[/caption]
PAThe manhunt was sparked when the couple’s burning car was found on the M61[/caption]
Officers found placenta in the vehicle
PAThe pair were tracked across the county using CCTV[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
