Constance Marten, convicted of the gross negligence manslaughter of her newborn daughter Victoria, has been granted permission to appeal her 14-year sentence. The 39-year-old is currently serving the term after she and her partner, Mark Gordon, were found with the infant's remains following a seven-week nationwide manhunt.
Marten and Gordon were on the run to prevent their baby from being taken into care, a situation they had faced with their previous four children. Their arrest in Brighton in February 2023 marked the end of the extensive search. The decomposing remains of baby Victoria were discovered two days later in a shopping bag in a shed. It is believed the infant died while the couple slept in a tent in cold conditions.
Marten and Gordon were convicted of gross negligence manslaughter at the Old Bailey last year. Marten has now also renewed her application to appeal her conviction. The specific grounds for her sentence appeal and the basis for seeking to overturn her conviction are not yet known, and no court date has been set.
When sentencing the pair last September, Judge Mark Lucraft KC noted that their actions were exacerbated by the baby's vulnerability and their disregard for past warnings. He stated that neither defendant had shown adequate care or love for their baby, describing their behavior as arrogant and resulting in neglect of the most serious kind.
In addition to the manslaughter charge, Marten and Gordon each received concurrent sentences of five years for perverting the course of justice and 18 months for concealing the birth of a child and child neglect.
The nationwide hunt began after the couple's car was found abandoned and on fire near Bolton, Greater Manchester, on January 5, 2023. The pair had traveled across England, living off-grid and sleeping in a tent on the South Downs where Victoria died.
Mark Gordon has a history of violence. In 1989, he was convicted in Florida of rape and aggravated battery, for which he served 22 years of a 40-year sentence. In 2017, he was convicted of assaulting two female police officers in Wales, where Marten had given birth to their first child under an assumed identity. During legal proceedings, it emerged that Gordon was also suspected of domestic violence in 2019, which resulted in Marten suffering a shattered spleen. He had reportedly refused to allow paramedics to treat her after she fell from a window while 14 weeks pregnant.
Following this incident, family court rulings led to the other children being placed in care. Marten concealed her fifth pregnancy, giving birth to Victoria on Christmas Eve 2022 in a rented holiday cottage. The couple's efforts to keep Victoria hidden, including the discovery of a placenta in their abandoned car, triggered the large-scale police alert. Victoria was last seen briefly on CCTV footage in London wearing a distinctive babygrow that was later found with her body.
Detective Chief Inspector Joanna Yorke of Scotland Yard stated after the sentencing that the couple's actions resulted in the death of an innocent newborn. Crown prosecutor Jaswant Narwal added that justice was sought for baby Victoria and that the sentences aimed to provide comfort to those affected by the case, emphasizing that no child should have their life cut short in such a preventable manner.