LONDON — Constance Marten and Mark Gordon have been convicted of the gross negligence manslaughter of their newborn daughter Victoria, whose body was found wrapped in a pink sheet inside a Lidl bag after the couple spent weeks on the run in early 2023.
The couple disappeared shortly after their car caught fire near Bolton, prompting a nationwide search involving more than 1,000 Metropolitan Police officers. Marten, 38, an aristocrat, and Gordon, 51, went off-grid with their newborn baby, sleeping in a flimsy tent on the South Downs in freezing conditions.
After seven weeks evading authorities, they were arrested in Brighton, where a search led to the discovery of baby Victoria’s decomposed body in a disused shed. Her cause of death could not be definitively determined, but the prosecution argued she likely died from hypothermia or smothering.
Marten and Gordon claimed her death was a tragic accident, saying Marten fell asleep holding the baby in her jacket. However, the jury rejected their defense, returning unanimous guilty verdicts for manslaughter, child cruelty, concealing the birth of a child, and perverting the course of justice.
Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford said: “The selfish actions of Mark Gordon and Constance Marten resulted in the death of a newborn baby who should have had the rest of her life ahead of her.”
Jurors heard that Marten had concealed the pregnancy, giving birth in a rented holiday cottage on Christmas Eve 2022. When police found a placenta in the couple’s abandoned car on January 5, 2023, it sparked a massive manhunt.
The couple left behind cash, burner phones, and a pet cat, then travelled across the country by taxi. Baby Victoria was only seen once on CCTV in London wearing the same babygrow later found with her remains.
Despite having £19,000 in the bank and trust fund access, the couple resorted to bin-diving for food after Victoria’s death, instead of seeking help.
During their retrial, new evidence was introduced about Gordon’s violent past. In 1989, at age 14, he was convicted in Florida for armed rape and aggravated battery, serving 22 years of a 40-year sentence. Jurors were visibly disturbed as this was revealed during Marten’s testimony.
Gordon was also previously convicted in the UK for assaulting police officers and linked to a domestic violence incident in 2019 in which Marten suffered a shattered spleen while pregnant. This history contributed to the family court’s decision to place their four other children into care.
The verdict, announced Monday, confirms that Victoria’s death was preventable, and underscores long-standing concerns raised by social workers about the couple’s ability to care for children.
