Aristocrat Constance Marten has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for killing her infant daughter while on the run.
Her partner Mark Gordon, a convicted rapist who spent 22 years in a Florida prison, must also serve 14 years after the parents were found guilty of gross negligence manslaughter of the baby girl, called Victoria. Gordon was handed down a further four years on extended licence.
The newborn perished in a flimsy tent on the South Downs in the bitter cold as the parents hid off grid to stop her from being taken into care like their four other children.
Marten, 38, wore her long dark hair in braids and was smartly dressed with a teal scarf and handbag as she sat in the dock next to Gordon, 51, in a suit. The pair, who sat just three metres apart to hear the sentencing, were repeatedly told off for attempting to pass notes to one another as they sat flanked by dock officers.
In Judge Mark Lucraft KC ‘s sentencing, he said neither Marten nor Gordon “gave much or any thought to care for the welfare” of their baby, adding that their focus was entirely on themselves.
He said the pair showed “no genuine expression of remorse” about the death of their child and had “sought to blame everyone else” for what happened. Marten shook her head as the judge related these findings.
He added that despite claims from Marten and Gordon that they dressed baby Victoria in a ski jacket and kept her in a sling, CCTV footage shows this was not the case, and she was in fact dressed in a thin baby grow that was inappropriate for the cold conditions. The judge accepted the prosecution case that baby Victoria died from hypothermia after being exposed to “significant cold stress”.
The pair were also convicted of perverting the course of justice after they stashed her decomposing remains under a pile of soil and rubbish in a Lidl bag for life, which they abandoned in a disused allotment shed.
Marten and Gordon were found guilty of child cruelty, perverting the course of justice and concealing the birth of a child following a four-month trial last summer.
They were further convicted of killing Victoria in a retrial this July, after jurors took just 14 hours and 32 minutes to return the unanimous guilty verdicts.
Marten, who shouted “it’s a scam” from the dock as the manslaughter verdict was returned, has already lodged a bid to appeal her conviction.
Marten’s mother, Virginie de Selliers, who was sat in the court for the sentencing, delivered a statement via her daughter’s barrister Tom Godfrey, saying she was “horrified” at how her daughter had been characterised in court and in the media, and that it did not reflect “the daughter I remember”.
She said: “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.”
Marten had cut ties with her wealthy family after she fell for Birmingham-born Gordon, who had been deported back to Britain after serving 22 years in a Florida penitentiary for a brutal knifepoint rape committed when he was just 14.
The two trials heard how the couple carefully concealed Marten’s pregnancy with Victoria – their fifth child – before going on the run to stop her from being taken into care.
Their first four children had been removed by a family court – a decision which the parents claimed was a miscarriage of justice driven by a “corrupt” social services system.
She gave birth in secret in a holiday cottage before they frantically travelled the country with Victoria hidden inside Marten’s coat – at first by road and later in taxis paid for with cash from her trust fund – after their car caught fire on the M61.
They decided to settle “off-grid” in the South Downs with little more than some sleeping bags and a cheap tent amid a nationwide manhunt after police found the remains of a placenta in their burnt-out car.
But Victoria died after Marten fell asleep with her zipped inside her jacket as they sheltered in the tent in January 2023.
Marten, a former journalist and aspiring actor, was eventually arrested with Gordon in Brighton on 27 February 2023 after 53 days on the run.
The prosecution said the parents’ “reckless, utterly selfish and callous” conduct led to the “entirely avoidable” death of the girl, whom they deprived of warmth, shelter and food during her short life.
They also claimed the parents concealed the infant, both when she was alive and after she had died, in a Lidl carrier bag as they kept her hidden while on the run, something Marten denied.
Harrowing footage played to the court revealed the moment officers pulled a beer can, scraps of newspaper, nappies, a Coke can and an old egg mayonnaise sandwich packet from the bag for life – before reaching inside to find the infant’s remains under a layer of soil and leaves.
However, the parents, who denied manslaughter, insisted her death was a tragic accident and they should not be blamed.
In tearful evidence, the mother told the jury she did “nothing but love” her baby, who deserved to be with her parents, adding: “I gave her the best that any mother would.”
In the aftermath of her death, she said she felt “disbelief, shock”, and “intense grief”, and revealed the couple had even contemplated suicide as they panicked over what to do next.
“I loved her so much I wasn’t thinking about myself,” she said. “I gave birth, but I didn’t even have time to rest myself, I got straight in a car and was up and down the country in different hotels. I didn’t allow myself to rest, I neglected myself and that’s why I fell asleep in that tent.”
