Constance Marten: A Life Unravelled

From Privilege to Prison: The Selfish Obsession That Doomed Baby Victoria

Constance Marten, the aristocrat who once graced society magazine pages, now faces a lengthy prison sentence. She and her partner, Mark Gordon, were convicted for the killing of their newborn daughter, Victoria. Their story is a tragic saga of paranoia, selfishness, and a deep-seated distrust of authority that began long before their doomed flight from the law. It culminated in the demise of an innocent child, abandoned in a Lidl shopping bag within a disused allotment shed.

A Verdict for Victoria

After two painstaking trials at the Old Bailey, a jury delivered justice for baby Victoria. Constance Marten, 38, and Mark Gordon, 51, faced a conviction for gross negligence manslaughter. The verdict brought to a close a legal process hampered by delays and courtroom theatrics, with a judge accusing the pair of attempting to sabotage proceedings. They showed no emotion as the final conviction was announced, a quiet end to a case that horrified the public.

The couple had previously received convictions for child cruelty, hiding the birth of a child, and obstructing justice. Their selfish actions, as described by the lead investigator, led directly to the demise of a baby who should have been celebrating her second birthday. For the officers involved, the verdict was a solemn conclusion to an investigation where the primary hope was always to find the infant alive.

The Spark of a Manhunt

The nationwide search began on 5 January 2023. Emergency services responded to a vehicle fire on the M61 motorway near Bolton and made a startling discovery inside the abandoned Peugeot. Amidst clothing and nappies lay a placenta, clear evidence that a baby had recently been born. This triggered immediate concern for the welfare of the mother and child, sparking a missing persons investigation led by Greater Manchester Police.

Realising they were discovered, the couple had already fled. They convinced a passing motorist to drive them to the nearest service station, the first step on a frantic journey across the country. From Bolton, they took a cab to Liverpool, then another long-haul trip to Harwich in Essex. All the while, they carried their newborn daughter, Victoria, with them, determined to evade the authorities they so deeply feared.

Fifty-Three Days in the Shadows

For 53 days, Marten and her partner lived as ghosts. They moved from Harwich to London and then finally to the south coast, a chaotic trek funded by cash. The couple became adept at avoiding detection, covering their faces from CCTV cameras and using burner phones. In London, they dumped a pushchair, transferring the baby into a Lidl "bag for life" to be less conspicuous.

Their paranoia was evident. Taxi drivers who transported them later reported the couple's erratic behaviour and their persistent questions about in-car cameras. They had access to a significant amount of money from Marten's trust fund but chose not to use it for safe accommodation. Instead, they spent it on constant travel, their sole focus on remaining hidden from a world they believed was against them.

Image Credit - AOL

A Final Sighting

The couple's flight ended in Brighton on 27 February 2023. A member of the public spotted them and alerted Sussex Police, who moved in to make an arrest. The initial charge was child neglect, but a crucial element was missing: their baby. Marten and her partner refused to answer any questions about Victoria's whereabouts, sparking a desperate and extensive search operation.

For two days, hundreds of officers, assisted by drones, helicopters, and sniffer dogs, scoured a vast 90-square-mile area of the South Downs. As the search continued with no sign of the child, the charges against the couple were escalated to manslaughter due to gross negligence. The police had to confront the grim possibility that the baby had already come to serious harm.

A Discovery in an Allotment Shed

On 1 March 2023, the search reached its heartbreaking conclusion. Tucked away in a disused shed on a Brighton allotment, officers found the remains of baby Victoria. Her body was inside the same Lidl shopping bag the couple had been seen carrying. Forensic analysis revealed the infant had likely been dead for several weeks, her tiny body badly decomposed.

The discovery sent a shockwave through the community and the nation. A makeshift memorial of flowers and tributes soon appeared near the allotment, a testament to the public's grief for a child they had never known. For the police, this was a devastating outcome, confirming their worst fears and shifting the focus of their investigation from rescue to securing justice for a life cut tragically short.

The Crown's Case

The prosecution laid out a damning case during the trials. They argued that Victoria’s death was the inevitable result of her parents' shocking and selfish decisions. The Crown Prosecution Service presented evidence showing the couple exposed their newborn to extreme risks, camping in a flimsy tent in near-freezing January temperatures on the South Downs.

Experts provided analysis of weather data from the time, illustrating how condensation, damp clothing, and cold air would have subjected the baby to climatic stress and a high risk of hypothermia. The prosecution contended that Victoria either froze to death or was smothered. They portrayed the two individuals as so fixated on avoiding the authorities that they prioritised their own freedom over the life of their vulnerable child.

A Defence of Tragic Accident

In her defence, Constance Marten offered a different narrative. She claimed Victoria’s passing was a tragic accident. She informed the court that the baby had died in her arms while she slept inside the tent. Her account painted a picture of a loving mother overwhelmed by circumstance, not a negligent one.

However, the couple’s actions undermined this defence. Their decision to go on the run was rooted in the fact that their four previous children had been taken into care over concerns for their welfare. A family court had previously ruled that Marten was a victim of domestic violence at Gordon's hands and the children were at risk. Their flight with Victoria was a pre-emptive strike to prevent history from repeating itself.

Image Credit - BBC

The Shadow of Mark Gordon

Mark Gordon's dark past was a significant, though often hidden, element of the case. At the age of 14 in Florida, he was found guilty of sexual assault and kidnapping at knifepoint, serving 20 years in a US prison before being sent back to the UK in 2010. During his retrial for Victoria's death, Marten blurted out this conviction, an act the judge suggested might have been a deliberate attempt to derail the proceedings.

Gordon chose to represent himself during the trial, even cross-examining Marten. He had a history of clashing with authorities, including a 2017 conviction for assaulting two police officers in a maternity unit where Marten had given birth to another child. The American woman he attacked decades ago described him as "wicked," expressing her belief that he should have been imprisoned for life.

An Aristocratic Upbringing

Constance Marten's background stood in stark contrast to Gordon's. She was born into immense privilege, growing up in Crichel House, a magnificent Dorset estate. Her family has close ties to the Royal Family; her grandmother was a goddaughter of the Queen Mother and a playmate of Princess Margaret, while her father, Napier Marten, served as a page to Queen Elizabeth II.

She attended an expensive boarding school and later studied at the University of Leeds before working in a research position with Al Jazeera. However, she became estranged from her family after meeting Gordon in 2014. Her father made emotional public appeals for her return, describing the years of her relationship with Gordon as "beyond painful" for the family. Despite the estrangement, she had access to a family trust fund.

The Influence of a 'Torture' Church

Years before her fatal spiral, Marten’s life took a detour that may have sowed the seeds of her profound distrust of institutions. As a 19-year-old in 2006, she resided for several months as a follower at the Synagogue Church of All Nations, or Scoan, in Nigeria, led by the notorious preacher TB Joshua.

A BBC investigation later accused Joshua, who passed away in 2021, of extensive maltreatment, including rape, forced abortions, and torture spanning nearly two decades. Marten’s mother had taken her there, and she remained as a follower when her mother returned to Britain. A fellow disciple, who shared a dormitory with Marten, described Scoan as a site of torment in comments to the BBC. The BBC found no evidence Marten herself was abused there.

A Deep and Lasting Trauma

The experience at Scoan left a deep scar on Marten. A friend, identified as Angie, who was acquainted with her there, stated that at some stage, "something inside her had fractured." Several years later, during 2012, Marten reached out to Angie using Facebook, confessing she had never discussed with anyone what she witnessed in Lagos, fearing her secular university friends would think she was either dishonest or insane.

Marten wrote about being abruptly thrown from the religious group by TB Joshua and how she spent a long time thinking the blame was hers. She described the difficulty of acknowledging she had been part of what she considered to be a cult. She wrote that it had required a long time for her to feel normal again, admitting she had dealt with the experience with quiet bewilderment.

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The Film That Was Never Made

The trauma of Scoan lingered, and Marten later sought to expose what she had endured. After graduating from university, her first job was in a research role with Al Jazeera. There, she began planning a film project focused on the megachurch of TB Joshua. In messages to her friend Angie in 2013, she explained her ambition for the film.

Marten wrote of her desire for the film to illuminate for audiences the mechanics of cults and the extremely subtle manipulation that occurs. She felt that how Joshua deceived innocent people needed to be exposed. A different ex-follower informed the BBC that she had convinced Marten to cancel her return trip to Nigeria for secret filming, warning her it was far too dangerous. The project was ultimately abandoned.

A Friend's Heartbreak

Angie, who was a follower at Scoan for a decade, recalled Marten’s character as clever, humorous, kind, and fiercely autonomous. Watching the tragedy unfold in the news has been incredibly difficult for her. She believes Marten's time in Nigeria was a breaking point that helps explain her subsequent actions.

Angie told the BBC, “The narrative I perceive is a far cry from the one in the headlines.” She sees the story of a young woman taken to a terrible place, broken down, and left unable to process her trauma. Angie expressed a sincere conviction that Marten required support both in the past and today. She says she feels heartbroken for her.

A Selfish and Toxic Union

The trial depicted Marten and Gordon as arrogant, self-centered people locked in a damaging partnership. Their shared paranoia and victimhood created a dangerous echo chamber, leading them to believe that only they knew what was best for their children, in defiance of all evidence and authority.

Their four older children were taken into care precisely because of these concerns. A judge ruled that Marten was a victim of domestic abuse by Gordon. Rather than address these issues, the couple chose to run. Their decision to live in a tent on the South Downs in the dead of winter with a newborn was the ultimate expression of this selfish obsession, a choice that proved fatal for Victoria.

A Preventable Tragedy

The demise of the infant Victoria was not an unforeseeable accident. Prosecutors argued it was the "inevitable" conclusion of her parents' reckless choices. They had the money and the means to find safe shelter but were consumed by their desire to remain off-grid.

The couple's sentencing is scheduled for September. For the police and prosecutors, the convictions bring a measure of justice for a child who never had a chance. As Chief Crown Prosecutor Jaswant Narwal stated, "No child should have had its life cut short in this preventable way." The case stands as a harrowing reminder of how a warped worldview, rooted in trauma and paranoia, can lead to the most devastating of consequences.