Constance Marten and Mark Gordon Receive 14-Year Terms, Manchester 2026

Key Points

• Both Constance Marten and Mark Gordon were jailed for 14 years in the Old Bailey.
• The duo were charged in connection with the death of their daughter, Victoria, who died when they were living in a tent on the South Downs.
• Mark Gordon got four more years on extended license.
• It was revealed that Victoria died as a result of exposure to extremely cold weather, with the judge accepting the prosecution’s argument that Victoria was subjected to “significant cold stress.”
• They were also found guilty of child cruelty, concealing birth of a child and obstruction of justice.
• Both of them moved around England trying to keep Victoria away from being put under care.
• Victoria was discovered wrapped in a Lidl shopping bag in an old shed, 53 days after they had fled the country.
• The case emerged from two long trials held in the Old Bailey and police search throughout the nation.
• The judge in charge of sentencing criticized their actions and said they had not considered the best interests of their daughter.

Manchester (Manchester Mirror) August 22, 2026 – Brighton, Constance Marten and Mark Gordon were sentenced on 15 September 2025 to 14 years in prison each for the gross-negligence manslaughter of their baby daughter Victoria.

The sentence was imposed at the Old Bailey by Judge Mark Lucraft KC. Gordon was also given a further four years on extended licence. Marten will not be eligible for release until she has served at least two-thirds of her sentence.

The couple had previously been convicted of manslaughter, child cruelty, concealing the birth of a child and perverting the course of justice. Their convictions followed two trials, each lasting several months.

The sentencing brought to an end a case that began when Marten and Gordon disappeared with their newborn daughter in early 2023. The couple had attempted to remain hidden from authorities because their four older children had previously been taken into care.

The prosecution argued that their decision to live secretly and sleep outdoors in winter conditions placed Victoria in serious danger. The court accepted that the baby died from hypothermia after being exposed to severe cold.

How did baby Victoria die?

Victoria died in January 2023 while the family was staying in a tent on the South Downs. The court heard that the baby was exposed to conditions that were unsuitable for a newborn child.

Judge Lucraft accepted the prosecution’s case that Victoria died following “significant cold stress”. The judge rejected the couple’s explanation that the death occurred when the child was accidentally smothered as the adults slept in the tent.

The court also heard claims that Victoria had been protected with a ski jacket and carried in a sling. CCTV evidence indicated that she had been wearing a thin babygrow that was unsuitable for the cold conditions.

The prosecution described the circumstances as reckless and avoidable. Prosecutors said the couple had deprived Victoria of warmth, shelter and proper care while travelling across the country and attempting to evade the authorities.

Marten denied that she had failed to care for her daughter. During evidence, she told the court that she had done “nothing but love” Victoria and believed the baby should remain with her parents.

She also described experiencing shock, disbelief and intense grief after Victoria’s death. Marten said she had been exhausted after giving birth in secret and travelling continuously, and that she had neglected her own health during the period on the run.

What did the judge say at sentencing?

Judge Lucraft criticised both defendants for failing to give sufficient consideration to Victoria’s welfare. He said neither had given “much or any thought” to the care and love their baby required.

The judge also described their conduct as showing “arrogance” and characterised the neglect as being of the “most serious type”.

He said the pair had focused on themselves and had shown no genuine expression of remorse for Victoria’s death. He also said they had attempted to blame others for what happened.

The defendants were reprimanded for disruptive behaviour in the dock during the sentencing hearing. Reports said they attempted to pass notes to each other while sitting near one another, despite being separated by dock officers.

Marten’s barrister, Tom Godfrey, told the court that she was remorseful and that her grief was “incalculable”. Her mother, Virginie de Selliers, provided a character statement in which she said she was “horrified” by the way her daughter had been portrayed during the proceedings.

De Selliers said her daughter had shown determination while fighting for her children and asked the court not to overlook Marten’s courage, loyalty and sense of fairness.

Gordon’s barrister, Philippa McAtasney KC, said he had been deeply affected by the removal of the couple’s older children into care. She told the court that he accepted poor decisions had been made and that he would live with the consequences for the rest of his life.

How did police find the couple?

The police search began after a vehicle used by Marten and Gordon caught fire near uk/local/bolton/">Bolton, Greater Manchester, on 5 January 2023.

Investigators found evidence in and around the abandoned vehicle that raised concern about the welfare of the newborn. A placenta was discovered, prompting police to launch a national search for the couple and their baby.

The pair travelled through different parts of England and used a combination of vehicles, taxis and temporary accommodation. Cash from Marten’s trust fund was used to pay for some taxi journeys and hotels.

The couple later settled in an area of the South Downs, where they lived in a tent. Their movements became the subject of a major police operation involving officers from forces across the country.

Victoria was only briefly seen on CCTV during the search. The footage showed a baby wearing clothing with a teddy-bear motif. Similar clothing was later recovered with the child’s remains.

After 53 days on the run, Marten and Gordon were arrested in Brighton on 27 February 2023.

Police subsequently found Victoria’s remains in a disused shed nearby. The body was found inside a Lidl bag, beneath soil and rubbish. The remains were too badly decomposed for a definitive medical cause of death to be established.

The discovery changed the focus of the investigation from a missing-child search to a homicide inquiry. Hundreds of officers had been involved in the operation, with the original objective of finding Victoria alive.

Detective Chief Inspector Joanna Yorke said the police were devastated by the outcome. She said the investigation had been challenging but that the convictions had brought those responsible for Victoria’s death before the courts.

Jaswant Narwal, chief Crown prosecutor, said prosecutors had sought justice for Victoria and described the death as preventable.

What was the history of the legal case?

The case required more than one trial. Marten and Gordon faced proceedings concerning the death of Victoria as well as other allegations linked to the couple’s attempt to conceal the child and evade authorities.

The pair were convicted of child cruelty, concealing the birth of a child and perverting the course of justice after an earlier trial. They were later convicted of gross-negligence manslaughter in a retrial in July 2025.

The manslaughter retrial lasted several weeks. The jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts after deliberating for 14 hours and 32 minutes.

Marten reportedly reacted to the manslaughter verdict by shouting, “It’s a scam”, from the dock. She also lodged an appeal against her conviction.

The defence maintained that Victoria’s death was a tragic accident rather than the result of criminal negligence. The couple denied that they had deliberately caused the child’s death.

The court nevertheless found that their actions and omissions amounted to gross negligence. The prosecution argued that the couple had ignored the risks created by their lifestyle and their decision to remain hidden in winter conditions.

Who is Mark Gordon?

Mark Gordon is a British-born man who moved to the United States with his mother when he was a child. During the sentencing proceedings, the court heard details of his criminal history in Florida.

Gordon was 14 when he attacked a neighbour in Miami in 1989. Court documents described an assault in which he entered the woman’s home while wearing a mask and carrying a knife and garden shears.

The victim, referred to under the pseudonym Jane, told the court that she was held captive for more than four hours and repeatedly raped. She said Gordon threatened to kill her children if she raised the alarm.

Gordon was later convicted of offences including armed sexual battery, armed kidnapping, aggravated battery and burglary with a weapon. He received a 40-year sentence and served 22 years in prison before being deported to the United Kingdom.

Gordon disputed the fairness of his rape conviction. Details of his criminal past were not presented to the jury during the first Old Bailey trial but emerged during the retrial.

Gordon was convicted in Wales in 2017 of assaulting two female police officers at a maternity unit where Marten had given birth to the couple’s first child under a false identity.

Other evidence concerning the couple’s relationship was also considered during legal arguments. The court heard allegations relating to domestic violence and an incident in which Marten suffered serious injuries during pregnancy. Those matters were not all presented to the jury as evidence in the same way as the charges for which the couple were convicted.

What was the couple’s relationship with social services?

Marten and Gordon had four older children before Victoria was born. Those children had been removed by a family court and placed into care.

The couple believed the decision was unjust and accused social services of acting improperly. Their opposition to the care orders became central to their decision to conceal Marten’s fifth pregnancy and keep Victoria away from authorities.

Marten gave birth to Victoria secretly at a rented holiday cottage on Christmas Eve 2022. The pregnancy had not been disclosed to the authorities.

After the car fire near Bolton, the couple began moving around the country. Their aim, according to the prosecution, was to avoid detection and prevent Victoria from being taken into care.

The baby was at times concealed beneath Marten’s coat while the couple travelled.

The judge concluded that their fear of intervention did not justify the conditions in which they placed Victoria. The court’s findings focused on the parents’ responsibility to protect the child, regardless of their mistrust of social services or their previous experiences with the family courts.

What did police and prosecutors say?

DCI Joanna Yorke said the couple’s “selfish actions” had resulted in the death of an innocent newborn. She noted that Victoria would have recently reached her second birthday and should have had her life ahead of her.

Yorke also recognised the scale of the search operation, which involved officers across the United Kingdom. She said the police’s priority throughout the search had been to find Victoria alive.

Jaswant Narwal said no child should have had their life cut short in circumstances that could have been prevented. She added that the defendants had used different tactics to frustrate and delay the legal process.

The statements reflected the prosecution and police position following the convictions. The defence, meanwhile, argued that Marten and Gordon were grieving parents who had made serious mistakes rather than people who intended to harm their child.

The court’s verdict and sentence settled the criminal responsibility issue, although the reported appeal means some aspects of the case may continue to be considered by the courts.

Background: How did the case begin?

The case began in January 2023, when the couple’s vehicle caught fire near Bolton while they were travelling with their newborn daughter. Police became concerned after discovering a placenta and learning that the family had gone missing.

Marten and Gordon remained out of contact for seven weeks. They moved between locations, used cash and attempted to avoid surveillance while carrying Victoria with them.

The couple eventually stayed in a tent on the South Downs. Victoria died there in January 2023. Marten and Gordon did not immediately report the death. Her remains were later concealed in a bag and left in a disused shed near Brighton.

Their arrest on 27 February 2023 ended the nationwide search. The subsequent legal proceedings examined the circumstances of Victoria’s death, the couple’s treatment of the child, the secret birth and their actions after the death.

The case received extensive national coverage because it combined a missing-child investigation, a high-profile family background, concerns about children in care and the criminal history of Gordon. The trials also raised questions about how evidence concerning previous convictions and family-court decisions should be handled in a criminal prosecution.

Prediction: What could the sentence mean for families and child-safety services?

For families involved with child-protection services, the case is likely to reinforce the legal principle that disputes with social services do not remove a parent’s duty to provide safe care. Parents who fear care proceedings may seek legal advice, advocacy or court review, but taking a child off-grid can increase risks and may lead to criminal investigation if the child is harmed.

For child-safety agencies, the case may prompt continued scrutiny of how authorities assess families who disappear, conceal pregnancies or refuse contact. It could also encourage closer co-operation between police, social services, health providers and courts when a vulnerable infant is believed to be at risk.

The sentence does not create a new rule that every disagreement with social services is criminal. Its significance lies in the court’s findings about the specific combination of decisions that exposed Victoria to danger, including concealment, prolonged evasion and inadequate shelter in severe winter conditions.

The wider impact will depend on any appeal and on future reviews of the agencies involved. For the public, the case is likely to remain an example of how a dispute over child protection can become more dangerous when parents withdraw from professional and emergency support.