Sentencing for Constance Marten / Mark Gordon

[HellenaHandbag]

Anyone following?

A post from someone who is either unaware of or wants to disregard all the evidence.

There is plenty of evidence that the baby died from gross negligence on their part. Although the judge decided that the evidence was that the baby died of hypothermia, a decision for which there is clear support in the medical evidence, it would have made no difference to the verdict or sentence if he had accepted Marten and Gordon's argument that the baby suffocated.

This ruling does not give them any grounds to appeal their convictions. There do not appear to have been any errors in the way the trial has been conducted, so they can only appeal their convictions if there is new evidence. They could appeal their sentences, but they do not appear to be manifestly excessive, and they are definitely not wrong in principle. I therefore don't think they have any grounds for a successful appeal.

If anyone is interested, the judge's sentencing remarks can be read at Rex -v- Mark Gordon and Constance Marten

I think the sentence is too long and unfair and reminds me of mothers jailed for cot deaths.

I would say that is a massive slap in the face insult to women like Sally Clark and Angela Cannings.

Putting your baby down safely into a cot and then having them pass away is horrifying beyond words and absolutely nobodys fault.

Taking your newborn out in minus freezing temperatures without even a blanket and making them sleep outside in a flimsy piece of canvas then having them die. Still horrifying beyond words but nobodys fault, not so.

There is no proof that the baby died of hypothermia

Because they prevented a proper investigation into the cause of death by the way they disposed of the body and refused to reveal where it was.

Did you hear or read the judge's detailed description of how Professor Havenith, an expert in the subject, recreated the conditions in which Victoria was living and concluded she could not have been kept warm enough in the clothes and shelter she had and the temperatures at the time?

To add to that: whilst knowing that you are deemed unfit to look after the child and that you need to go on the run to avoid all authorities.

Exactly. And that CCTV footage of them in the cafe all rugged up but that tiny baby just wearing a babygro shows that whoever made that original judgement was bang on right.

I read that two of the children are little girls who have been adopted together. It was heartbreaking to read about how they were affected by the behaviour of Gordon and Marten who were apparently very erratic regards supervised visits with their daughters sfter they had been taken into care but before they were adopted.
She, I won't bother writing her name again managed to get an article printed in a prison magazine as recently as 2025.
Vile slime the pair of them.

14 years is not enough.

RIP baby Victoria.

I don't have a issue with Marten sentence but given this is the second horrific crime Gordon has committed I think should have greater differention between the sentences handed down. I don't enough weight was given to his criminal history. Maybe sentencing guidelines don't allow this but I like him get a much longer sentence.

Constance had access to enough money to give her children a privileged life, but she was too selfish and caught up in this relationship with that awful man.

They deserved to be locked away for a long time.
That poor baby must have suffered so much during the freezing cold winter.

Prisons have lifestyle magazines!

I can't recall if anything was said about how long Gordon will have to serve before he's eligible to be considered for parole. He may end up doing longer than Marten, who has to serve 2/3 before being eligible. And he will be on licence for four years after he gets out, so can be recalled if he steps out of line.

The judge said that one of the things he considered was whether either of them is dangerous. He concluded she isn't, but he is.

If ever there was a case for mandatory sterilisation...

You took the words right out of my mouth. We see some nonsense written on here sometimes but jfc that takes the biscuit. That poor poor baby had no chance.

Is that you Constance? TBH, I thought you’d be settling into your new home tonight and be too busy to post on Mumsnet 🤬

14 years and may serve two thirds of it.

Not long enough but at least they weren’t let off.

I also believe that any assets they have should be used to pay back the cost of the extensive man hunt.

That court judgement is an upsetting read. I'm just glad that the Judge was able to read them both so well - hopefully by the time she gets out, more children won't be an option.

Rest in peace, Victoria.

He is most definitely a monster. When I heard the judge talking about his previous conviction I felt sick. When they described how cold little Victoria would have been in that tent I felt distraught. Victoria didn’t stand a chance. RIP beautiful girl.

Rip Victoria

Thank you for the link @prh47bridge

Third crime (at least)

Rape

Threw Marten out of a window

Complicit in the manslaughter of his own child.

Is he a UK citizen? Can he not be deported back to the US at the end of his sentence.

Just playing devil's advocate a little bit here, but it is possible and has often been the case that 'expert' evidence has been overturned or ruled biased later, so new evidence could come in the form of alternative expert opinion I presume and that was what I meant with regards to cot deaths, originally the evidence in those cases said the mothers MUST have killed their children. One experts opinion is one experts opinion...and if she genuinely did fall asleep on the baby and that is how the poor little one died, should we imprison ALL mothers who accidentally smother their children? As far as I am aware women in that situation are rarely if ever treated as grossly negligent unless under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and if they were it would make anyone terrified to have children because the fact is accidents can happen to anyone. It is a good job the judge ruled this hypothermia in that sense as otherwise that would set a potentially alarming precedent if the primary cause for a 14 year sentence was smothering. Also smothering a child in a coat is entirely incidental to living in a cold tent, if the child was in a coat it was not cold. Yes, I absolutely agree that living in a cold canvas tent in winter was unacceptable if they did not have a stove in the tent. Many people DO successfully live in tents all over the world in freezing temperatures, that is how our ancestors lived for 10s of 1000s of years, but usually with some source of heating within the tent (Native Americans on the great plains for example). I certainly am not defending that their children should not be removed from them following this incident and on the accumulation of risk of harm (though whether it would have occured had the first four not been forcibly removed is questionable.) They were going to lose the baby anyway though weren't they? If they were told they could be assessed and could keep the baby under certain conditions I doubt they would have ran. Expecting a pregnant woman to think about the baby and relinquish it is all well and good but who on earth would do that if they thought they were being wrongly persecuted because of their lifestyle choices? Also hormones and maternal attachment do not easily make women want to relinquish their children. I am merely pointing out there IS an alternative narrative to this, if you listen to their own, actually quite consistant narrative, they are anti authority, anti state hippy types and acted in a way that was in accordance with that philosophy.

Is he a UK citizen? Can he not be deported back to the US at the end of his sentence.

He is a UK citizen. He was deported back here from the US.

He also assaulted two women police officers on the maternity ward when CM had her first baby. A man who was visiting the ward had to help restrain him.

I used to be friends with Constance. She was lovely and kind. But also suffers with her mental health. She needs help not prison

they are anti authority, anti state hippy types and acted in a way that was in accordance with that philosophy.

Is failing to provide adequate clothing for a newborn baby in accordance with an 'anti authority, anti state hippy' philosophy? And discarding your baby's body in a supermarket bag? Is that part of the same philosophy?