Latest news with #grossnegligence
BBC News
5 days ago
- BBC News
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon guilty of gross negligence manslaughter of their baby
A couple who went on the run with their newborn daughter have been found guilty of her manslaughter by gross Marten, 38, and Mark Gordon, 51, were convicted on Monday following a lengthy and chaotic retrial at the Old Bailey, which the judge accused them of trying to "sabotage" and "derail". It comes more than two years after the decomposed body of their baby, Victoria, had been discovered in a shopping bag in earlier trial at the same court found them guilty of concealing the birth of a child, perverting the course of justice by not reporting her death, and of child cruelty - the latter of which could not be reported until now. To now have been found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence means that the jury found that the couple's behaviour had been so exceptionally bad and fell below the standard of reasonably competent prosecution had argued during their retrial that Marten and Gordon had made a conscious decision to not keep Victoria safe, and that it was clear their actions had been to the prosecution's case was that Victoria had died from hypothermia or by being smothered while co-sleeping in a small, thin tent in cold, damp and windy conditions in January 2023. It is thought that the couple went on the run to avoid the authorities and keep Victoria, their fifth child together, with their four other children having being been previously taken into and Gordon both refused to stand as the jury delivered its unanimous verdict on Monday. Marten shook her head and sighed, while Gordon sat with his eyes closed and his head resting back on the also told the judge following the verdicts that he planned to "win on appeal" and described it as an "unfair trial".Speaking afterwards, chief prosecutor Jaswant Narwal said the defendants had shown "little remorse for their actions" and had used "different antics to frustrate and delay court proceedings"."I hope these convictions provide a sense of justice and comfort to all those affected by this tragic case."Samantha Yellend, London's senior crown prosecutor, said it was "shocking" that the couple would expose their child to "such obvious risks" and that their "reckless actions were driven by a selfish desire to keep their baby no matter the cost". In the retrial, the jury also heard that Gordon had been convicted of rape in Florida in 1989 when he was aged 14. For legal reasons, this conviction - for which he was sentenced to 40 years in prison and deported back to the UK after serving 20 years - was not made known during the first couple became the subjects of a police manhunt in 2023 when officers found evidence of a recent birth in a burnt-out car near were found on 27 February 2023 and Victoria was discovered dead two days later in an allotment shed in the Hollingbury area of Brighton. She had died in a tent in the South Downs in January that Superintendent Lewis Basford, who led the search for them, said Victoria's death was "completely avoidable" and that the couple had many opportunities to "do the right thing and... ask for help"."We have waited more than two years to secure justice for baby Victoria and I am pleased we have now been able to get that for her - despite her parents trying to disrupt and derail not one, but two trials," he added that as a father himself, he found it "hard to comprehend how, instead of providing the warmth and care their child needed" Marten and Gordon "chose to live outside during freezing conditions to avoid the authorities".The couple are expected to be sentenced in September.
South China Morning Post
5 days ago
- South China Morning Post
UK couple found guilty of killing baby daughter while on the run
A British aristocrat and her partner were convicted on Monday of the manslaughter of their baby daughter through gross negligence, more than two years after their disappearance sparked a nationwide manhunt. Constance Marten – whose father was once a page to the late Queen Elizabeth – and Mark Gordon went to live 'off-grid' in late 2022 when Marten was pregnant after their previous children were taken into care, prosecutors said. 'Their selfish desire to keep their baby girl led inexorably to the death of that very baby,' prosecutor Tom Little said at the start of their trial at London's Old Bailey Court earlier this year. Marten, 38, and Gordon, 51, slept for several weeks in a tent in southern England during freezing winter temperatures, part of what Little described as the couple's 'arrogant and ultimately grossly negligent conduct'. Their selfish desire to keep their baby girl led inexorably to the death of that very baby Prosecutor Tom Little The pair pleaded not guilty to manslaughter by gross negligence, but were convicted by a jury on Monday.
RNZ News
01-07-2025
- RNZ News
Lucy Letby's former bosses arrested
crime world 29 minutes ago Three ex-bosses of UK nurse Lucy Letby have been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter. London Correspondent Olly Barratt spoke to Corin Dann.
Telegraph
01-07-2025
- Telegraph
Three Lucy Letby hospital bosses arrested over ‘manslaughter'
Three hospital bosses have been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter in connection with the case of Lucy Letby. The individuals, who were all in senior leadership roles from 2015 to 2016 at the Countess of Chester Hospital, are being investigated in connection with the 'increased fatalities' at the time the neonatal nurse carried out her crimes. The three bosses were arrested on Monday following an 18-month investigation, Cheshire police said. They have all been bailed pending further enquiries. Detective Superintendent Paul Hughes said: 'In October 2023, following the lengthy trial and subsequent conviction of Lucy Letby, Cheshire Constabulary launched an investigation into corporate manslaughter at the Countess of Chester Hospital. 'This focuses on senior leadership and their decision-making to determine whether any criminality has taken place concerning the response to the increased levels of fatalities. 'In March 2025, the scope of the investigation widened to also include gross negligence manslaughter. 'This is a separate offence to corporate manslaughter and focuses on the grossly negligent action or inaction of individuals. 'It is important to note that this does not impact on the convictions of Lucy Letby for multiple offences of murder and attempted murder.' DS Hughes added: 'As part of our ongoing enquiries, on Monday 30 June, three individuals who were part of the senior leadership team at the CoCH in 2015-2016, were arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter. 'All three have subsequently been bailed pending further enquiries. 'Both the corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter elements of the investigation are continuing and there are no set timescales for these. 'Our investigation into the deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies at the neonatal units of both the Countess of Chester Hospital and the Liverpool Women's Hospital between the period of 2012 to 2016 is also ongoing.'
BBC News
09-06-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Martha Mills doctor's failings 'particularly grave'
The failings of a doctor responsible for Martha Mills' care, who died from sepsis, amounted to "gross negligence" and were "particularly grave", a medical tribunal death gave rise to Martha's Rule in hundreds of hospitals in England, giving parents the right to an urgent second tribunal found consultant Prof Richard Thompson failed to appreciate how seriously ill 13-year-old Martha had become in the summer of 2021, following a bike the crucial afternoon, he did not examine her in person or send her to intensive tribunal concluded Prof Thompson's fitness to practise is impaired, but whether he will be sanctioned is still to be decided. Martha was transferred to King's College Hospital in London in 2021, one of three specialist treatment centres in the UK, after a holiday bike accident left her with serious injuries to her pancreas. Her parents, Merope Mills and Paul Laity, wrote about their pain and anger over their daughter's treatment following her a family holiday, Martha had skidded on some sand and fell heavily on to the handlebars."It was a difficult, tricky injury, but it did not have to be a fatal one," Merope has she stayed in the hospital for the next developed an infection and then signs of sepsis - when the body's response to an infection is overwhelming and ends up injuring its own tissues and organs - but this was not managed inquest found that she could have survived her injuries if she'd been referred to the specialist children's intensive care in the hospital promptly, and received better on BBC Radio 4's Today programme in 2023, Merope Mills said her family were not listened to by senior doctors on several occasions and were "not given the full picture" about Martha's deteriorating condition. Over the past few weeks, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service has heard allegations from the doctors' regulator, the General Medical Council (GMC), that Prof Thompson failed on several counts over his care of was the consultant on call on her ward on 29 August 2021 - two days before she tribunal said it was "evident" that by around 17:00 that day Martha had "several high risk indicators" including her heart rate, blood pressure, breathing and a rising temperature, which "indicated a sudden and significant deterioration".It said Martha's condition, which included a new rash, justified her being moved to intensive care but "this opportunity was not taken".Later that evening, Prof Thompson was called at home by a colleague about Martha's continued fever. He had already seen her on his morning ward round, but did not return to the hospital to examine her in Thompson has said one of the reasons he wanted to keep Martha on his ward was not to distress her parents, but the tribunal said this did not justify withholding or delaying her move to intensive Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service has now decided that Prof Richard Thompson's fitness to practise had been tribunal said this would reassure the public and send a message to doctors about the importance of following the fundamental principles of good care. Martha's parents raised concerns about their daughter's care to the regulator, the General Medical Council, in to the tribunal's findings Martha's parents said: "It is important to us that allegations denied have been found proved and the gravity of mistakes that led to our daughter's preventable death has been recognised. "We will always have in our minds the failures of culture, training and policy on Rays of Sunshine Ward at King's College Hospital, as well as the responsibility of individuals. "We'd like to thank all the thoughtful doctors who have helped us to understand what happened to Martha."The hospital that looked after Martha has admitted mistakes were made, and the trust said previously in a statement that it "remains deeply sorry that we failed Martha when she needed us most".
