A recent review into the safeguarding failures surrounding the death of baby Victoria has prompted questions about the effectiveness of the police manhunt for her parents, Constance Marten and Mark Gordon. Crime reporter David James Smith argues that the public pursuit may have inadvertently contributed to the infant's death, suggesting a more discreet approach could have been taken.
Marten and Gordon were each sentenced to fourteen years in prison for the gross negligence manslaughter of their newborn daughter in September 2025, following a trial and retrial at the Old Bailey. Gordon also received an additional four years for posing a public risk, stemming from a prior rape conviction in America.
Baby Victoria, only days old at the time of her death, was discovered on March 1, 2023, with her body concealed in a shopping bag within a disused allotment shed near Brighton. She was the couple's fifth child; their four other children had previously been removed by family courts.
The couple, who adopted a nomadic lifestyle, fled after Victoria's birth, expressing fears that she too would be taken into care. The discovery of a placenta in their abandoned car triggered a nationwide manhunt.
Tactical Concerns Amidst Manhunt
Discussing the case in light of a February review by the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, Smith drew parallels between the police pursuit and a high-speed car chase, where unintended harm can occur. "The police are chasing them, and then a bystander is hurt, or the people being chased end up crashing. Somebody dies, and you think surely there must have been a better way to resolve this than causing a fatality," Smith stated.
He posited that the intense police pursuit drove Marten and Gordon further underground, potentially exacerbating their attempts to evade authorities. "The police knew they had the baby, and the more they pursued them, the more they tried to escape. It felt like there was a sort of tragic, terrible inevitability to what happened, and I can't believe there wasn't a better way to have dealt with that," Smith added.
Victoria is believed to have died from hypothermia while the couple lived outdoors in a tent on the South Downs during winter, weeks before her body was found. The review, titled Protecting All Vulnerable Babies Better, aimed to examine systemic safeguarding failures exposed by Victoria's death.
Trauma and Non-Engagement
The review also investigated the pattern of non-engagement with social services that characterized the family's history, which had led to the removal of their other children. Smith suggested that social services may not have fully recognized the depth of trauma experienced by Marten and Gordon, necessitating a more sensitive approach.
"It was puzzling to everyone in that courtroom, and clearly puzzling to social services and the judge in the family proceedings too: this mystery about their relationship, and what it was about them that made them put themselves first, before their children," Smith noted.
The review highlighted trauma as a recurring factor in their non-compliance. Marten had alluded to childhood abuse during the criminal trial, and Gordon had experienced abuse as a child before moving to America. Smith concluded that addressing their trauma and supporting them to become better parents could have offered a more constructive solution than the outcome that transpired.