Constance Marten, 38, and Mark Gordon, 51, have been found guilty of gross negligence manslaughter following the death of their newborn daughter, Victoria.
The tragic case shocked the nation after Victoria’s decomposed body was found wrapped in a plastic bag inside a shed on a Brighton allotment in March 2023. It later emerged the baby had died in a tent in freezing temperatures on the South Downs in January 2023, just days after she was born.
Today’s verdict comes after a retrial at the Old Bailey. Marten and Gordon previously denied manslaughter by gross negligence, as well as causing or allowing the death of a child. Both were convicted of the manslaughter charge.
The couple went on the run in early January 2023 after fleeing authorities, sparking a massive nationwide search. They were eventually arrested in Brighton in late February, but baby Victoria had already died by then.
In a previous trial, which concluded in 2024, the jury had already found the couple guilty of child cruelty, concealing the birth, and perverting the course of justice. These verdicts could not be reported until now due to a court order, which has since been lifted.
The court heard that Marten and Gordon wilfully neglected baby Victoria, failing to provide warmth or safety during freezing weather conditions. Prosecutors said the pair made a “conscious decision not to protect her” and that their actions amounted to deliberate cruelty likely to cause “unnecessary suffering or injury to health”.
Sentencing has not yet been scheduled. The judge told the jury a date will be set in due course and invited them to return if they wished to witness the sentencing.
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