A British woman from an aristocratic family and her partner were sentenced on Monday for the manslaughter of their newborn daughter, with the court handing both of them 14-year prison terms.
Judge Mark Lucraft told Marten, 38, and Gordon, 51, that the way they treated their baby, Victoria, had been “neglect of the gravest and most serious type.”
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon caused the death of their baby after Marten secretly gave birth and the couple took her to live in a tent during freezing winter temperatures.
By going into hiding, the couple hoped to prevent social services from taking their daughter away.
Marten and Gordon evaded the police for several weeks, during which they spent time living in a tent.
An aristocratic British woman and her partner were given 14-year prison sentences by the court on Monday for the manslaughter of their newborn daughter.
Gordon, 51, and Marten, 38, were told by Judge Mark Lucraft that their treatment of their infant daughter, Victoria, had been “neglect of the gravest and most serious type.”. “.
After Constance Marten gave birth in secret and the couple took her to live in a tent during the bitterly cold winter, they killed their child.
Neither of you showed “genuine expression of remorse,” Lucraft said, adding that “neither of you gave much, if any, thought to the care or welfare of your baby — your focus was on yourselves.”. “..”.
Their four other children had been taken into care following concerns for their well-being. The couple wanted to keep social services from taking their daughter away, so they went into hiding.
Spending the winter months in a tent.
In January 2023, Marten, whose father, Napier Marten, was once a page to Queen Elizabeth II, and her partner Gordon, a convicted sex offender, made headlines when a placenta wrapped in a towel was discovered inside their burned-out car.
When Marten was very pregnant with their fifth child, Victoria, in late December 2022, the couple went for a run to avoid being contacted by the authorities.
For a number of weeks, Marten and Gordon lived in a tent while avoiding the police. Police in Brighton, on the south coast of England, eventually located them.
Days later, their daughter’s body was found in a shopping bag in an abandoned shed.
At their first trial in 2024, Marten and Gordon were found guilty of child cruelty, perverting the course of justice, and hiding the birth of a child.
They were found guilty at their retrial in July of manslaughter by gross negligence.
Darko Janjevic served as editor.
