Latest news with #ConstanceMarten
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Daily Mail
How Constance Marten and Mark Gordon employed 'covert tactics' like an 'organised crime gang' to evade police for 53 days
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon used covert tactics 'consistent with an organised crime group' to stay ahead of a nationwide manhunt lasting 53 days, claim police officers involved in their case. Their flight from justice began on a wet and freezing Thursday night in January 2023, when firefighters found what they believed was a body part inside a burning car on the M61 near Bolton. Motorists had seen a man frantically pulling belongings from the blaze while a woman stood beside him, clutching a tiny baby. They were quickly identified as Constance Marten, then 35, a former aristocrat with access to a large trust fund, and Mark Gordon, 48, a convicted sex offender who had served 20 years in a US prison. The baby was Victoria - a child they had kept hidden from authorities. Detective Inspector Dave Sinclair was called to the scene, he told the Sunday Times: 'With very scant detail we were able to build up quite an informed picture in a relatively short time. But they had the advantage of time.' The couple's 53-day disappearance would end in tragedy with the discovery of baby Victoria's body in a plastic bag beneath a pile of clutter. Last week, following a retrial, the pair were convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence, having already been found guilty of perverting the course of justice, child cruelty, and concealing the birth of a child. On January 5 2023 Greater Manchester Police launched a missing persons search after finding a placenta in the couple's burnt-out car on a motorway near Bolton The 'body part' turned out to be a placenta wrapped in a bloodstained towel, it was discovered in the car alongside Marten's passport, £2,000 in cash, a live cat in a box, and 34 phones and Sim cards. Wet paperwork recovered from the vehicle revealed the couple's names for the first time, despite the car being falsely registered. Officers immediately set about combing the area with sniffer dogs, but the couple were already gone - hitching a lift into Bolton, then taking two taxis to confuse the authorities and get across the country. They paid in cash for both, travelling first to Liverpool, then 270 miles southeast to Essex. One driver later told police he saw Marten breastfeeding the baby under her coat. Unable to deploy a helicopter due to high winds, Sinclair assembled every available detective in the force and began a round-the-clock operation. However, thanks to Marten's privileged background, the pair were well prepared. Detectives believe she withdrew more than £25,000 from her trust fund to support their plan to go off-grid and ultimately flee abroad. By the time the investigation was handed over to Essex Police, the couple were already several days into their escape. Detective Chief Inspector Rob Huddleston immediately declared a critical incident as Harwich, where the couple had been sighted, is a port town so the police were concerned they would try to get on a boat to Europe. 'We knew that she'd recently given birth. It was [a case of] pulling out all the stops, really, so we could ensure that little child was all right,' he said. Huddleston's team began searching every hotel and B&B in Harwich and nearby Colchester, before they soon figured out that the couple were moving between the two towns, in an attempt to mislead the police. From Colchester, they took a taxi to East Ham in east London, then another cab took them to Whitechapel, where they bought camping gear, before continuing to north London. Then, in the early hours of their fourth day on the run, they travelled to the south coast. They paid £470 in cash to reach Newhaven, East Sussex. During the journey, the taxi driver said he heard a sound 'like a cat meowing' from under Marten's coat - he hadn't realised it was a baby until four hours into the trip. From here, the couple disappeared into the wilderness of the South Downs, camping in freezing, stormy conditions. Marten later described how they survived by collecting rainwater from a nearby farm and using baby wipes to clean themselves. Victoria slept between the two of them in a 'thing made out of sleeping bags'. In court Marten defended their actions saying: 'Jesus survived in a barn, didn't he? There are societies like Bedouins … They walk through cold deserts with children and they survive.' But somewhere between January 8 and 9, baby Victoria died. According to Marten's barrister Francis FitzGibbon KC, she 'fell asleep with her baby after breastfeeding' and the death was a 'tragic accident', while Gordon's lawyer, John Femi-Ola KC, argued that 'co-sleeping' was 'not a crime'. Prosecutors argued the baby likely died from smothering or hypothermia and that the death was 'entirely avoidable'. Despite this, the couple continued to hide - moving under the cover of night, avoiding phones and bank cards, and only using cash. In one sighting at a Texaco garage on January 12, Marten was seen filling a bottle with petrol. She later told police it was intended to cremate the body, but she changed her mind. For the next 40 nights, they were seen only by dog walkers - always in remote areas near the Seven Sisters cliffs. The Metropolitan Police eventually took over the investigation: 'Most suspects can't live off-grid. They don't have the financial capability [or] the practical capacity,' said Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford. 'This couple were displaying the same level of covert tactics that we would expect from an organised crime group.' The National Crime Agency joined the hunt, looking into possible smuggling routes, cash transactions, and known associates. 'All the skills and tactics that we would use for major crime, for terrorism, were considered and, where appropriate, employed,' said NCA adviser Noel McHugh. Still, the couple stayed hidden. On day 46, they were spotted in Stanmer Park, Brighton. One woman, who would later call the police, said Victoria's head was 'wobbling' and her skin 'very, very pale … I do think that baby died. It was dead.' Finally, on February 27 - day 54 - Marten made three cash withdrawals at a Brighton shopping centre. Gordon, using a stick and with his foot wrapped in a plastic bag, accompanied her. When police moved in, within six minutes of learning about the transaction, Gordon reportedly said: 'What's the big deal?' Marten gave a false name and asked: 'Why am I under arrest anyway? For doing what? … You can't arrest someone for hiding a pregnancy.' Despite repeated questioning, neither would reveal what had happened to the baby. In freezing rain, more than 100 square miles of the South Downs were searched. Drones, helicopters, quad bikes and sniffer dogs were all deployed. While officers searched sheds, ditches and dense woodland. 'People were refusing to go home at the end of their shift,' said Chief Superintendent James Collis of Sussex Police. On March 1, a breakthrough — a disused shed at Lower Roedale allotments. Inside, a Lidl carrier bag hidden under clutter was baby Victoria. PC Allen Ralph said he first saw the infant's head - 'it looked like a 'doll' - and then her decomposed leg. Victoria had been dead for weeks. Despite attempts by Marten to blame others, including her family, the media, and even the police, the jury unanimously found that she and Gordon were responsible for their daughter's death. 'This was a self-absorbed relationship between two selfish and arrogant individuals,' said prosecutor Tom Little KC. 'Caught in the middle of that toxic relationship was a baby that was manifestly not being cared for properly.' 'In her very short life,' he added, 'baby Victoria did not stand a chance.' Marten and Gordon, now 38 and 51, will be sentenced by Judge Mark Lucraft KC on September 15.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE The bizarre Tatler-esque glossy magazine run by serial fraudster that had 'Babe of the Month' aristocrat baby killer Constance Marten as cover girl
As a young debutante, Constance Marten cheerfully described her carefree life of society parties and summer holidays when she featured in an edition of Tatler magazine. Then aged 21 and going by her nickname Toots, the aristocrat confidently posed in a 1920's-style flapper dress after being crowned 'Babe of the Month' by the high society publication. Now Marten has been elevated to cover girl after her smiling image was emblazoned across the front page of an altogether less aspirational magazine called ' The View '. For readers not in the know, the publication heralds itself as 'a grass-roots social enterprise and campaigning platform that gives voice to women in the justice system' with the support of 'leading barristers, jurists and human rights advocates'. In reality, MailOnline can reveal, the bizarre, glossy magazine is a mouthpiece for its founder Farah Damji, one of Britain's most notorious con artists who is also a serial stalker and a fellow inmate of Marten. Damji - who is the daughter of a multi-millionaire property tycoon and has left behind a trail of countless shattered lives in a criminal career spanning 30 years - once insisted that no woman should ever go to prison. And it appears Marten is the latest recruit to her campaign. The View, which was launched in 2020, describes itself as a radical publication for 'women with conviction', could now face contempt of court proceedings over the article, which could have derailed a prosecution which has cost taxpayers around £2.8million over two trials across the last two years. Published quarterly in digital and print formats, it now boasts of having more than 15,000 paid subscribers including judges and officials working in government departments and think tanks. It claims to produce up to four digital magazines each year and one 'bumper' annual print edition which can be purchased for £20 for subscribers. Individual digital editions can also be purchased for £5. The magazine claims to have 25,000 readers with printed copies available in 130 stockists as well as all 12 women's prisons in England and Wales with 2,000 copies distributed in libraries at a cover cost of £5. There have been 79 episodes of its Rebel Justice podcast since the first episode was released in November 2021. Among its champions is former Labour peer Baroness Uddin who described The View as 'an incredible magazine' during a debate on women in the criminal justice system in the House of Lords in 2019. In an exclusive interview with the magazine, Marten, 38, paints a very different picture of her life from that of the upbeat trust-fund heiress of her Tatler days in 2009. It appears the publication - along with an accompanying podcast in which her 'unflinching testimony' is read by an actor - has given her the platform as a champion for the rights of vulnerable women who are 'survivors of trauma and state-endorsed violence'. Shedding light on the 'ongoing injustices women face in the legal system', Marten outlines her 'harrowing experience' as she stood trial at the Old Bailey alongside her rapist partner Mark Gordon, 51, after they were accused of killing their newborn baby. In a self-pitying rant about her 'inhumane conditions', Marten complained of the exhaustive process of having to sit through the hearing day after day while enduring the commute backwards and forwards from Bronzefield Prison in Ashford, Surrey where she was being detained. Marten - who spent a number of days absent from the court - complained the regime left her falling asleep in the dock while she was forced to endure 'freezing' conditions as the Old Bailey heating system was not working and had to eat 'disgusting' court food. In the article Marten, heiress worth £2.4million, took aim at Serco, the private firm which manages transport from prison to court while criticising the 'dehumanising' justice process. She said: 'This entire system will continue preventing us from having a right to a fair trial as long as we allow this to continue. 'I feel as if I need to sue Serco for adversely affecting my trial, preventing me from accessing my lawyers, and for my mental health, which is in pieces.' Prisoner A9624X also compared slammed prosecutors, claiming she was spoken to like a child. She also compared the lawyers to Dementors from Harry Potter, creatures referred to as 'soul sucking fiends.' She said of her CPS prosecutors: 'Tom Little and Joel Smith remind me of Dementors from Harry Potter. There's no empathy. I felt like I was being grilled as a serial killer. 'They all use this disgusting tone, like they're reprimanding a small child. I've heard them laugh and joke with others but with me, it's always condescending.' There is no mention of the freezing and inhumane conditions in which her newborn daughter Victoria died whose body was found in a Lidl carrier bag after Marten and Gordon went on the run from the authorities in December 2022. Published quarterly in digital and print formats, The View boasts of having more than 15,000 paid subscribers including judges and officials working in government departments and think tanks The couple - who had already had four children taken into care - took cars and taxis around the country to try to avoid detection, before setting up home in a flimsy tent on the South Downs in the middle of winter. When police finally caught up with the pair in February the following year, baby Victoria, whose grandfather was a page of honour to Queen Elizabeth II, was found dumped in a disused shed in a Lidl shopping bag. On top of her body was an empty beer can and the discarded packaging of an egg sandwich. Prosecutors believe she died from hypothermia or smothering but by then the corpse was too badly decomposed to be certain. Neither defendant was prepared to shed any light on the child's death and Gordon claimed Victoria would be alive today had police not pursued them. Astonishingly, the article was published half way through the couple's lengthy and chaotic second trial at the Old Bailey which the judge accused the couple of trying to 'sabotage' and 'derail'. They are now facing lengthy prison sentences after being found guilty of Victoria's manslaughter by gross negligence. The article is now being looked at as a potential contempt of court as it featured an image of one of the couple's children - which is banned by a court order. It appeared in the magazine alongside a piece focusing on another 'disturbing case' highlighting how women are being 'failed' by the criminal justice system - that of the paper's editor Damji, 58. Ugandan-born Damj first came to public prominence after she admitted having an affair with Guardian columnist William Dalrymple who she was later accused of stalking. Damji - once dubbed 'London's most dangerous woman' - is also said to have had a high profile affair with a senior executive on the paper. Just days before Marten's conviction, Damji was jailed for six years after she set out to destroy the life of her latest victim, former British diplomat Dr Nigel Gould-Davies. Dr Gould-Davies, a former British Ambassador to Belarus, was stalked, harassed and defrauded during an horrific campaign of 'lies and abuse'. The pair met through the dating site Bumble in July 2023 - days after Damji had been released from prison for a previous offence. The mother-of-two was using the fake name Noor Higham as they struck up a relationship, enjoying meals out, theatre trips, and spending time at his apartment. Dr Gould-Davies supported Damji through a cancer diagnosis and also helped out with her magazine and podcast. The forums would later be used to launch an attack on Dr Gould-Davies during Damji's trial. One podcast released in April this year was entitled 'Nigel Davies: A forensic analysis of a serial predator.' It featured evidence which trial judge Joanna Greenberg KC had ruled to be inadmissible during the ongoing case. Meanwhile, in court, the jury was told that within weeks of the start of their relationship, Damji had began sending 'hateful' emails and messages to Dr Gould-Davies' employers at the International Institute of Strategic Studies as well as work colleagues and his brother. Defamatory false allegations were also sent to others associated with his professional life including his local MP Emily Thornberry, solicitors, a foreign ambassador and news organisations. The jury at Wood Green Crown Court was told the messages were sent under false names including that of Clare Simms. The messages, which the court heard were designed to undermine Dr Gould-Davies' character and professional credibility, made bogus allegations that he was involved in money laundering, committed violence against women and breaches of the Official Secrets Act. Clare Simms is listed along with Noor Higham as directors of The View which was set up as a community interest company in 2020. On its website Simms is described as the magazine's editor at large. The court heard hateful messages were also sent by Holly Bright who is said to be The View's publishing director. She is also a former director of the firm which has twice fought off compulsory strike-off actions and whose latest accounts published this week show it has no capital, assets or creditors and liabilities and is listed as dormant. Damji has accused Dr Gould-Davies of mounting a campaign against the magazine and making a complaint about its officers to companies house. During her campaign of abuse, Damji stole a sensitive document relating to Russia and threatened to hand it over to the Russians leading to Dr Gould-Davies fearing he was in danger. She also stole his passport and bank card which she used on a spending spree making purchases at fashion outlet Paul Smith in a £13,621 fraud. Dr Gould-Davies was so alarmed he quit London to work in Berlin in a bid to get away from his mystery stalker, and separately ended his relationship with Damji in February 2024 - still unaware that she was his tormentor. It appears the publication gave Marten (above) the platform as a champion for the rights of vulnerable women who are 'survivors of trauma and state-endorsed violence' Marten (above) complained she was forced to endure 'freezing' conditions - yet there was no mention of the freezing and inhumane conditions in which her newborn daughter Victoria died after she and Gordon went on the run from the authorities While in Berlin, he investigated a website filled with slurs against his character which led him to discover Damji's true identity and prompting him to contact police. Meanwhile Damji had mounted an operation to track Dr Gould-Davies down, attending his London flat with associates, visiting areas around his mother's home in Spain, and contacting his brother in the USA. She identified his hotel through clues from a TV interview he conducted with CNN from his room and in March 2024 she sent him an email pretending to come from his ex-girlfriend, saying she knew where he was staying. The following day Damji was arrested at Heathrow Airport as she made a bid to fly to Berlin and has been in custody since. The court heard Damji's criminal convictions - which include fraud, theft, perverting the course of justice and three separate stalking charges - date back to 1993 when she ran an art gallery in New York. In 1995 she was sentenced to six months in Rikers Island prison plus five years' probation following a fraud over an apartment she was renting and crimes related to the gallery. During her time on probation, she allegedly committed further offences but she fled the country after a warrant was issued for her arrest. Damji ended up in South Africa where she more crimes were reported before she was deported. In the UK, Damji received cautions for theft and obtaining property by deception before she was jailed for three-and-a-half years for 17 offences including thefts and obtaining property by deception as well as perverting justice. While awaiting trial for offences including stealing credit cards from a nanny and an assistant and going on spending sprees, she posed as an official from the Crown Prosecution Service to contact a witness saying she did not need to attend court in a bid to sabotage the case. Weeks after being released from jail she began committing further deceptions and in 2010 was jailed for 15 months for a £17,500 housing benefit fraud. In 2016, Damji was jailed for five years in 2016 for stalking a church warden after they met on an online dating site. She attended the school of the victim's son and spoke with the deputy headmaster to 'make false allegations about the warden abusing vulnerable women'. Damji then continued to stalk the man and sent emails to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Deputy Metropolitan Police Commissioner and an MP following her arrest. In 2020 she was sentenced to 27 months in jail for two counts of breaching a restraining order in April 2018 and June 2018. She was convicted in her absence after fleeing to Ireland during her trial. During her time in Ireland she lived under the identity of an Icelandic woman before she was finally re-arrested in County Galway in August 2022 and returned to Britain to serve her sentence. Jailing Damji over her latest offences, Judge Greenberg said: 'One can only speculate as to the reasons for your behaviour, but what you did to Dr Gould-Davies was callously and deliberately to set about destroying his life and reputation for no better reason than you were able to do so by employing methods with which, from your history, you are experienced. 'Given your history of committing criminal offences of harassment and dishonesty, one conclusion about your behaviour is that it may be explained by nothing more nor less than wickedness and greed.' Before Damji was jailed, it was Judge Greenberg who her magazine would set their sights on raising 'serious concerns' about her handling of cases. The View has mounted an ongoing campaign against the 'dangerous' judge. It has launched a petition calling for her to be removed from the bench as she poses 'a clear and present risk to the rights of women and girls who appear before her'. Asked why potentially prejudicial material was allowed to be published from inside prison walls by defendants during ongoing trials the Ministry of Justice declined to comment. The prison service denied the magazine was available in jails and insisted that all prisoners were subject to strict rules. A spokesperson said: 'This publication is produced independently, is not written or distributed within the prison estate, and HMPPS does not support its production.
Scottish Sun
4 days ago
- Scottish Sun
Constance Marten moans she's ‘treated like a killer' in jail & brands inmates and lawyers ‘Dementors' from Harry Potter
She claimed the lawyers were making 'angels look like devils' SICK RANT Constance Marten moans she's 'treated like a killer' in jail & brands inmates and lawyers 'Dementors' from Harry Potter Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Constance Marten has complained that she's "treated like a killer" in jail and brands her prosecutors like soul-sucking "Dementors." Posh prisoner Marten, 38, and Mark Gordon, 51, were convicted of gross negligence manslaughter after the death of their baby girl. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 7 Constance, 38, was convicted of the gross negligent manslaughter of her daughter Victoria today Credit: Central News 7 Her partner Mark Gordon, 51, was also convicted of gross negligent manslaughter Credit: Central News 7 The baby died while the couple lived 'off-grid' in freezing conditions Credit: Central News 7 Constance Marten told police that Victoria had died after she fell asleep while holding her Credit: Central News In a bitter rant to The View Magazine, a publication promoting reform for women in custody, Marten moaned about being 'treated like a killer' in jail. This is despite being found guilty over the death of her baby daughter. Marten and rapist boyfriend Gordon were convicted after their newborn Victoria was found dead in a Lidl shopping bag. Speaking from behind bars, Marten was very critical of her prosecutors and bizarrely told the prison magazine that they reminded her of the soul-sucking creatures in Harry Potter. She said: "It was his voice. I just couldn't bear it anymore. "Tom Little and Joel Smith remind me of Dementors from Harry Potter. "There's no empathy. I felt like I was being grilled as a serial killer." The 37-year-old aristocrat is locked up in HMP Bronzefield alongside notorious child murderers Lucy Letby and Beinash Batool following a four-month retrial at the Old Bailey. She complained about being spoken to like a child and accused legal teams of trying to 'make angels look like devils and devils appear angelic'. Marten added: "They all use this disgusting tone, like they're reprimanding a small child. Aristocrat Constance Marten and her convicted rapist partner have been found guilty of killing their newborn baby "I've heard them laugh and joke with others, but with me, it's always condescending. "I just shut down because no one wants to be spoken to like that. People say, 'Oh, they're just doing their job', but they're not. "They're paid to make angels look like devils and devils appear angelic." The mum barely mentioned her daughter, who prosecutors believe died from hypothermia or suffocation in a flimsy tent after the couple went on the run. Marten and Gordon sparked a nationwide manhunt in early 2023 after fleeing with their newborn, desperate to avoid the baby being taken into care like their previous four children. When asked about using pseudonyms while off-grid, she gave the excuse: "The police give people aliases all the time under witness protection. "That doesn't make me a liar. I was trying to protect myself and Victoria." Marten gave birth to Victoria without seeking any medical assistance in early 2022 and kept her "their little secret". The infant had hardly any clothes or "means of keeping or remaining warm". Victoria, who spent 'much of her life' in a Lidl bag for life, was tragically discovered dumped among rubbish in a shed near Brighton. A jury found the pair guilty of gross negligence manslaughter after hearing harrowing details of how they ignored warnings and lived 'off-grid'. In a police interview, Marten later said: "I had her in my jacket and I hadn't slept properly in quite a few days and erm, I fell asleep holding her sitting up and she, when I woke up, she wasn't alive." 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 she and Gordon lost their appeal against the child cruelty convictions and are due to be sentenced in September. This comes as... Marten was a former Tatler 'It Girl" and her family had close links to the Royals. But her life spiralled out of control after she and Gordon, 51, met by chance in a North London incense shop in 2014. The couple went off the radar from her friends and family and formed their own self-styled cult living apart from society, with Constance even posing as an Irish traveller when she attended hospital while pregnant. Constance also travelled the world and went to festivals including Burning Man and Wireless, saying: 'Dance is my oxygen.' She spent her summer holidays in 2010 working for a film production company in Cairo. One of her colleagues there described her as being 'very decent, nice and friendly' and having 'great potential'. But she added that Constance sometimes chose the 'wrong' type of man, adding: 'She was somehow gullible.' During the trial, it was revealed that Gordon was convicted of a series of sexual offences - including rape - while living in the US. Gordon, who was 14 at the time, broke into the house of a next door neighbour wearing a nylon stocking over his face and armed with a knife and hedge clippers. He demanded the woman undress and attempted to rape her before carrying out the vile offences in the April 1989 horror. The victim of his crime told the BBC she was "floored" when she found out the man who attacked her 36 years ago was on the run from police in the UK in 2023. She said: "The four-and-a-half hours I spent with him was enough to know he is evil." On May 21 the same year, Gordon broke into another home with a shovel and battered a man inside. The fiend was sentenced in the US to 40 years in prison, of which he served 22 years. In 2017, Gordon was convicted of assaulting two female police officers at a maternity unit in Wales. Jurors were not told that Gordon was also suspected of a incident of domestic violence in 2019 which left Marten with a shattered spleen. 7 In 2021 a judge ordered her four children should be adopted, shortly before she fell pregnant with Victoria Credit: Central News 7 The couple would carry Victoria around in a Lidl bag after getting rid of their pram Credit: Central News 7 Her arrest came following a 54-day manhunt Credit: Central News
The Sun
4 days ago
- The Sun
Constance Marten moans she's ‘treated like a killer' in jail & brands inmates and lawyers ‘Dementors' from Harry Potter
Constance Marten has complained that she's "treated like a killer" in jail and brands her prosecutors like soul-sucking "Dementors." Posh prisoner Marten, 38, and Mark Gordon, 51, were convicted of gross negligence manslaughter after the death of their baby girl. 7 7 7 In a bitter rant to The View Magazine, a publication promoting reform for women in custody, Marten moaned about being 'treated like a killer' in jail. This is despite being found guilty over the death of her baby daughter. Marten and rapist boyfriend Gordon were convicted after their newborn Victoria was found dead in a Lidl shopping bag. Speaking from behind bars, Marten was very critical of her prosecutors and bizarrely told the prison magazine that they reminded her of the soul-sucking creatures in Harry Potter. "There's no empathy. I felt like I was being grilled as a serial killer." The 37-year-old aristocrat is locked up in HMP Bronzefield alongside notorious child murderers Lucy Letby and Beinash Batool following a four-month retrial at the Old Bailey. She also complained about being spoken to like a child and accused legal teams of trying to 'make angels look like devils and devils appear angelic'. Marten added: "They all use this disgusting tone, like they're reprimanding a small child. "I've heard them laugh and joke with others, but with me, it's always condescending. "I just shut down because no one wants to be spoken to like that. People say, 'Oh, they're just doing their job', but they're not. "They're paid to make angels look like devils and devils appear angelic." The mum barely mentioned her daughter, who prosecutors believe died from hypothermia or suffocation in a flimsy tent after the couple went on the run. Marten and Gordon sparked a nationwide manhunt in early 2023 after fleeing with their newborn, desperate to avoid the baby being taken into care like their previous four children. She gave birth to Victoria without seeking any medical assistance in early 2022 and kept her "their little secret". The infant had hardly any clothes or "means of keeping or remaining warm". Victoria, who spent 'much of her life' in a Lidl bag for life, was tragically discovered dumped among rubbish in a shed near Brighton. A jury found the pair guilty of gross negligence manslaughter after hearing harrowing details of how they ignored warnings and lived 'off-grid'. In a police interview, Marten later said: "I had her in my jacket and I hadn't slept properly in quite a few days and erm, I fell asleep holding her sitting up and she, when I woke up, she wasn't alive." 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 she and Gordon lost their appeal against the child cruelty convictions and are due to be sentenced in September. This comes as... Marten was a former Tatler 'It Girl" and her family had close links to the Royals. But her life spiralled out of control after she and Gordon, 51, met by chance in a North London incense shop in 2014. The couple went off the radar from her friends and family and formed their own self-styled cult living apart from society, with Constance even posing as an Irish traveller when she attended hospital while pregnant. Constance also travelled the world and went to festivals including Burning Man and Wireless, saying: 'Dance is my oxygen.' She spent her summer holidays in 2010 working for a film production company in Cairo. One of her colleagues there described her as being 'very decent, nice and friendly' and having 'great potential'. But she added that Constance sometimes chose the 'wrong' type of man, adding: 'She was somehow gullible.' During the trial, it was revealed that Gordon was convicted of a series of sexual offences - including rape - while living in the US. Gordon, who was 14 at the time, broke into the house of a next door neighbour wearing a nylon stocking over his face and armed with a knife and hedge clippers. He demanded the woman undress and attempted to rape her before carrying out the vile offences in the April 1989 horror. The victim of his crime told the BBC she was "floored" when she found out the man who attacked her 36 years ago was on the run from police in the UK in 2023. She said: "The four-and-a-half hours I spent with him was enough to know he is evil." On May 21 the same year, Gordon broke into another home with a shovel and battered a man inside. The fiend was sentenced in the US to 40 years in prison, of which he served 22 years. In 2017, Gordon was convicted of assaulting two female police officers at a maternity unit in Wales. Jurors were not told that Gordon was also suspected of a incident of domestic violence in 2019 which left Marten with a shattered spleen. 7 7 7 Timeline of baby 'killing' - how couple evaded cops CONSTANCE Marten and Mark Gordon allegedly sparked a 54-day manhunt across the UK after vanishing with their baby Victoria. Here's how the pair's journey began... December 20, 2022 Marten and Gordon booked into a holiday cottage in Northumberland, with the rental due to end on Boxing Day. The owner told jurors he found the property in "something of a state" on December 28. December 24, 2022 The couple claim their baby daughter was born this day but this has been disputed by prosecutors. December 28, 2022 Their Suzuki broke down on the M18 motorway so a recovery driver took them to a nearby Sainsbury's. There was allegedly no sign of the baby but the back and side windows of the car had been blocked by clothing. January 4, 2023 Marten and Gordon checked into the Ibis hotel at the Lymm Services in Cheshire then later the AC Hotel in Manchester. January 5, 2023 The couple's Peugeot 206 catches fire on the M61 motorway in Greater Manchester. Police launch an urgent probe after finding placenta, burner phones and Marten's passport, jurors were told. She and Gordon are taken to a Morrisons store in Bolton by a member of the public before being seen on CCTV at the nearby Bolton Interchange station. The couple allegedly use Marten's trust for a taxi to Liverpool, then a £400 cab to Harwich in Essex. Cab driver Ali Yaryar, who picked the couple up from Liverpool, told the court: "I think the baby had no clothes". January 6, 2023 The couple arrive in Harwich and check into a Premier Inn at around 3am. They later move to the Fryatt Hotel, where they paid in cash, it was said. January 7, 2023 Marten and Gordon travel by taxi to Colchester then to East Ham in London. The couple allegedly buy a buggy from Argos then grab another cab to Whitechapel. They ate in a Brick Lane restaurant then dump the new buggy - choosing instead to keep Victoria in a Lidl bag, jurors heard. January 8, 2023 The couple spend £475 on a taxi from Hornsey to Newhaven in East Sussex and walk to the South Downs National Park. January 9, 2023 Both Marten and Gordon claim baby Victoria died on this day - making her 16 days old, the court was told. It is said there is no way of knowing this for sure. January 12, 2023 Marten is captured buying snacks and petrol with cash but there was no sign of the baby. Prosecutors say she bought the fuel to cremate the baby but changed her mind. January 16, 2023 Marten and Gordon are seen setting up a tent in Stanmer Park Nature Reserve in the South Downs despite the cold weather. February 16/17, 2023 The couple are spotted near Hollingbury Golf Course in rural Sussex allegedly pushing a buggy with no baby. Their tent is later seen in Coldean Lane in Brighton A driver sees the pair walking towards Stanmer Park with something under Marten's puffer jacket, the court heard. February 19, 2023 Gordon and Marten are allegedly seen in their tent in the park with a very young baby with a "wobbly" head. Jurors told the baby had no socks, blanket or hat on. February 27, 2023 The couple are arrested in Hollingbury Place in Brighton but do not reveal Victoria's location at first, it is said. March 1, 2023 Tragic Victoria is found dead in a Lidl bag covered in rubbish inside a disused shed "like refuse", the court is told.
Daily Mirror
4 days ago
- Daily Mirror
Constance Marten: Warning signs on killer mum who dumped dead baby in Lidl bag
Constance Marten and her partner Mark Gordon were convicted of gross negligence manslaughter of their infant daughter. Marten had previously shown an inability to connect with others A socialite who killed her own baby by taking the newborn to live "off grid" in a tent where she died had shown early examples of her coldness to fellow human beings ahead of the chilling crime. Constance Marten had a wealthy, privileged upbringing. But her trial heard she 'never really had a strong connection' with her family and eventually became estranged from them. Now it can be revealed she displayed a similar lack of bonding with fellow students when she studied to become a journalist. The aloof personality trait could stand as a marker of how Marten descended into a mother who allowed her own helpless child to die in freezing conditions, then kept her body in a shopping bag for days or even weeks after her death. The Mirror exclusively reported how Marten had ranted about the judge and prosecutors in her case, comparing them to the Dementors characters in the Harry Potter series. In another insight into the absence of human connection, the diatribe barely referenced the death of little Victoria, but focused almost entirely on Marten complaining about her own situation. Those early signs of disconnect were there when Marten embarked on student life. She had enrolled on a intensive postgraduate journalism course in a bid to become a reporter 10 years ago having already spent some time interning with news organisation Al Jazeera after studying Arabic at Leeds university. One of her lecturers has told the Mirror, Marten was unassuming and didn't boast about her wealth to her fellow students - but was unable to form close relationships with them. Journalist and broadcaster Fiona Webster said that Marten told her fellow wannabe journalist she was from an estate, and while many thought she meant a council estate, she was in fact referring to the £100 million 5,000-acre Crichel Estate near Wimborne, Dorset. Marten had grown up with brothers Maximilian, 35, and Tobias, 32, at the 'immensely large' property, which provided the backdrop to Gwyneth Paltrow's 1996 film, Emma, boasts 25 rooms, a ballroom and a wine cellar and overlooks a crescent-shaped lake. Marten, 37, had been re-tried at the Old Bailey after her fifth child died at just a few weeks old when she and partner Mark Gordon, 49 decided to go on the run fearing their daughter would be put into care, as their four elder children had been. The both denied charges of manslaughter by gross negligence of their daughter Victoria between January 4 and February 27, last year - but were unanimously found guilty. The defendants, of no fixed address, had been convicted of child cruelty, perverting the course of justice and concealing the birth of a child at their first child at a previous trial. Marten and Gordon both lost an appeal against those first trial convictions and will be sentenced on September 15. During both trials, Marten defended her decision to live in a tent with her newborn baby, and said the baby died when she fell asleep after breastfeeding. The prosecution said Victoria died from hypothermia or was smothered while co-sleeping in a 'flimsy' tent on the South Downs. The infant's remains were found in an allotment shed inside the supermarket bag, along with a sandwich wrapper and an empty beer can. In an insight into her self-centred character, Marten claimed she hadn't reported the child's death because she feared being cast as "some evil mother, a murderess" and added: "I don't trust the police.' When prosecutor Joel Smith KC asked Marten if leaving her daughter's body in a bag of rubbish was a 'despicable thing' to do, rather than being flustered or browbeaten, she went on the attack, saying that Mr Smith was 'diabolical' and a 'heartless human being'. That mixture of confidence, together with her stand-offish nature, had been seen before. Speaking about Marten's time as a journalism student, Fiona, who was Head of Diploma Training at the Press Association, said she felt Marten was confident but never really formed a close bond with anyone. She told the Mirror: "She stood out and I remember her. During the first few days she stood up and introduced herself as Toots, so we all knew her as Toots, not Constance, it was a family nickname, and she used it as her name, like posh people do. "She was confident and smiley, she told everyone that she had been in New York taking photos and wanted to become a photojournalist. I looked at her photos and I thought they were really good, she had taken some nice stuff. "We didn't know she came from money, she never mentioned her family. She spoke well, she had a very posh accent as if she spent a lot of years in private school. "She was obviously privately educated, she had already done a bit of freelancing. Some people came to us straight from university and others had tried freelancing then realised they needed the basics, like media law and shorthand. "She was a bit off beat, she would sometimes appear a bit dishevelled. She would turn up in things that looked quite expensive but she wasn't flashy. She fit in with the others but her tops weren't from Primark, although there were no Prada handbags." During her trial, Marten told jurors: "There's a long history of issues with my family." Marten and Gordon, who met in 2014, had four previous children together taken away from them, two who lived with them and two that were removed at birth. She told the court: "I cut ties with my family two years before I met Mr Gordon." However, she said that when her first child was born in the winter of 2017 her family would send her £50 a week, but she wrote to them to complain they had a duty of care and by the time her second child was born they were sending her £2,000 a month. She added: "We had more than enough," and her children had everything they needed. When baby Victoria was born, the couple took her to live in a tent in a desperate bid to stop her being taken away by social services, the court was told. Within weeks they had been arrested and the child's dead body discovered. Marten told jurors Victoria was born on Christmas Eve 2022, and died on January 9, 2023, but prosecutors alleged she died weeks later. Fiona, who was one of the trainers at the PA offices in Victoria, London, remembered that Marten appeared a bit lost and didn't really have the drive to be a reporter, unlike most people who were on 17-week course for those who already had a degree. She added: "People on these intense courses often formed friendships very quickly, that often stick throughout their career. "She was friendly with everybody and people liked her but I wouldn't say she had a close friend. She felt a little bit like someone who could easily be taken advantage of. She was very trusting of people. She seemed a bit lost. "She wasn't as driven to be a journalist as most people on the course were. She was a little bit lost and slightly naive. She was really trying to do something and have a career and be independent it seemed." Marten lost any independence it seemed when taking up with Gordon, a convicted rapist. Jurors at their trial for Victoria's death heard that in 1989, Gordon, then aged 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'. In February 1994, Gordon received a sentence of 40 years' imprisonment, of which he served 22 years. His offences consisted of armed kidnapping, sexual assault and armed burglary, and a second set of armed burglary and aggravated battery while armed with a 'flat-headed shovel'. Jurors were also told Gordon had pleaded guilty to assaulting two police officers who had been called to a maternity ward in Wales in 2017 after Marten gave birth to one of Victoria's older siblings. Gordon had to be forcibly restrained during the incident and a new father had stepped in to help the two female officers before more police arrived to arrest him. Gordon, who represented himself, made no reference to his troubled past but told jurors: 'Everybody faces challenges in life.' Yet while Gordon's horrendous record was self-evident of his brutal natur e, no-one would realistically take Marten's character flaws and deduce she'd one day end up at the centre of a horrendous crime and be facing a jail sentence for manslaughter. Fiona said that although she has taught thousands of journalists over the years, there were only a very few she emailed after the course was completed to offer support in the future and to wish her all the best, adding: "Toots was one of them."
