Fugitive aristocrat Constance Marten and partner jailed over baby death

Aristocrat Constance Marten and her convicted rapist partner have been jailed for 14 years for killing their newborn baby while on the run.

Marten, 38, and Mark Gordon, 51, were in hiding when their baby daughter Victoria died in a tent on the South Downs in January 2023.

The defendants had fled authorities to prevent baby Victoria being taken into care, as four other siblings had been before, the Old Bailey had heard.

They were found guilty of her manslaughter, child cruelty, concealing the birth of a child and perverting the course of justice following two trials spanning six months each.

On Monday, Judge Mark Lucraft KC jailed them both for 14 years and handed Gordon a further four years on extended licence.

The judge accepted the prosecution case that baby Victoria died from hypothermia after being exposed to “significant cold stress”.

He rejected the defendants’ claims that Victoria was smothered in a “terrible accident” as they slept in the tent.

The offending was made worse because the baby was vulnerable and the defendants failed to listen to past warnings.

In a televised sentencing, Judge Lucraft told the defendants: “It is clear throughout the period neither of you gave much or any thought for the care or love for your baby.”

The judge said they had displayed “arrogance” and treated Victoria to “neglect of the most serious type”.

Police had launched a nationwide hunt after their car burst into flames on a motorway near Bolton, Greater Manchester, on January 5 2023.

The defendants travelled across England and went off-grid, sleeping in a tent on the South Downs where baby Victoria died days later.

After seven weeks on the run, the defendants were arrested in Brighton.

After a desperate search, police found their baby dead amid rubbish inside a Lidl bag in a disused shed nearby.

Victoria’s remains were too badly decomposed to establish the cause of death.

Earlier, the judge had told off the defendants for their “disruptive” behaviour in the dock as their lawyers were mitigating for them.

For Marten, Tom Godfrey had expressed her “sadness and remorse” for what happened, saying her grief was “incalculable”.

In a character witness statement read to the court Marten’s mother Virginie de Selliers said she was “horrified” at how her daughter had been characterised during her trials, saying it did not reflect “the daughter I remember”.

Mrs de Selliers, who sat in court, stated: “What I do know is she showed sheer determination when fighting for her children and her daughter Victoria.

“It is my sincere hope that when considering her future, her courage and loyalty and deep sense of fairness are not overlooked.”

For Gordon, Philippa McAtasney KC said he suffered “a great deal of upset and anxiety” when Victoria’s older siblings were taken into care before she was born.

She told the court: “He says that the children being taken away affected everything, affected their whole lives, and they were suffering a trauma, and he accepts that poor decisions were made which he very much regrets.

“He said he will live with this for the remainder of his life.”

Jurors in the first trial in 2024 were not told about Gordon’s violent past, which was only partly revealed in their second trial.

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.

Gordon, who moved with his mother from Birmingham to the US at the age of 12, was sentenced to 40 years in jail and was released after 22 years.

In 2017, Gordon was convicted of assaulting two female police officers at a maternity unit in Wales where Marten gave birth to their first child under a fake identity.

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 to allow paramedics into their London flat to treat her after she fell out of a window when she was 14 weeks pregnant, it emerged during legal argument.

She spent eight days in hospital then put her life and that of her unborn child at risk by attempting to discharge herself, with Gordon’s support, it was alleged.

It was after that incident that the family court decided the couple’s other children should be taken into care.

When Marten became pregnant for a fifth time, she kept it secret, giving birth in a hired holiday cottage on Christmas Eve 2022.

The defendants’ attempts to keep Victoria under wraps prompted the major police alert after a placenta was found inside their abandoned car near Bolton.

While on the run, Victoria was only briefly glimpsed on CCTV footage in London wearing the same teddy bear motif babygrow later recovered with her body inside the Lidl bag.

Detective Chief Inspector Joanna Yorke, of Scotland Yard, said: “The selfish actions of Mark Gordon and Constance Marten resulted in the death of an innocent newborn baby who would have recently had her second birthday and should have had the rest of her life ahead of her.

“This was an incredibly challenging investigation for the hundreds of officers across the UK who were involved in the search. Our main focus throughout the search was finding Victoria alive and we were devastated by the outcome.

“We know today’s sentencing won’t bring Victoria back, but I am pleased our investigation has resulted in the couple who caused her death finally being brought to justice.”

Jaswant Narwal, chief Crown prosecutor, said: “We were determined to seek justice for baby Victoria and honour her tragically short life.

“Marten and Gordon used different antics to frustrate and delay court proceedings, doing everything in their power to try and delay facing responsibility for their actions.

“No child should have had its life cut short in this preventable way. I hope today’s sentences provide a sense of justice and comfort to all those affected by this tragic case.”