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Two parents who caused the death of their newborn baby after taking her to live in a tent in wintry conditions to evade social services have each been sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon went off the grid in late 2022; their four older children had previously been taken into care due to concerns for their safety if left with the couple.
A jury in their Old Bailey retrial unanimously found them guilty of manslaughter in July. In their first trial last year, the defendants had also been convicted of perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child and child cruelty.
Sentencing them on Monday, Judge Lucraft KC told them: “It is clear … neither of you gave much or any thought for the care or love for your baby.”
The judge said they had displayed “arrogance”, adding: “What you did towards baby Victoria can only be described as neglect; neglect of the gravest and most serious type.
“There has been no genuine expression of remorse from either of you.”
While he said they had expressed sadness, they had “adopted the stance of trying to blame everyone else”.
On Monday, Lucraft, the recorder of London, jailed the pair for 14 years and handed Gordon a further four years on extended licence.
Speaking after the trial, DCI Joanna Yorke of the Met police, who led the homicide investigation, 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.”
Jaswant Narwal, the chief crown prosecutor, said the couple had “used different antics to frustrate and delay court proceedings”, adding: “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.”
During the sentencing hearing, the judge repeatedly reprimanded Marten and Gordon for their “disruptive” behaviour in the dock as their lawyers were mitigating for them. He threatened to have them removed from the court, and to continue the hearing without them if necessary, labelling their behaviour “disrespectful”.
Jurors in the first trial were not told about Gordon’s violent past, which was partly revealed only in their second trial. Lucraft listed this among aggravating factors when passing sentence.
Gordon and Marten spent seven weeks on the run before they were found by police in Brighton, East Sussex.
Officers had launched a nationwide hunt after finding the couple’s burnt-out car on a motorway near Bolton, Greater Manchester, on 5 January 2023. In it was evidence that the baby, Victoria, had been born shortly beforehand.
The couple travelled across England in taxis with the newborn; eventually ending up in the countryside near Brighton.
After a search by police, Victoria’s body was found amid rubbish inside a Lidl bag in a disused shed. Her remains were too badly decomposed to establish the cause of death.
The prosecution said she had died from hypothermia in the cold and damp conditions inside the flimsy tent, or was smothered. The defendants claimed their daughter’s death was a tragic accident after Marten fell asleep on her.
In 1989, Gordon, then 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 released after 22 years.
Jurors in the retrial appeared shaken by the revelations – even though Marten had revealed Gordon’s rape conviction while giving evidence.
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 told Marten had been warned by social workers about the risk of falling asleep with a baby lying on her and that a tent was unsuitable.
Both defendants gave evidence in their retrial but each cut short their testimony before they could be cross-examined by the prosecution.
Marten and Gordon were told they would serve two-thirds of their 14-year custodial terms behind bars. And they were told they would then be released to serve the remaining time on licence. In Gordon’s case, the latter period included the extra four years handed down because of the danger he was deemed to pose.
