Constance Marten case — I feel the police have some responsibility too

[Siff]

I know Constance Marten and her partner made dangerous and illegal choices, and I’m not excusing that — a baby died and that’s heartbreaking. But I can’t stop thinking about the way the case was handled and whether the police have some responsibility in how things unfolded.

As a mum of four who’s struggled mentally after birth, I keep thinking: if I had just given birth, was vulnerable, and felt like the whole world was hunting me down — would I have thought clearly? Probably not. The media coverage was intense, and the police were everywhere. The pressure must have been overwhelming.

I honestly believe the fear created by the police operation pushed them into making more and more desperate and risky decisions to stay hidden. It wasn’t just a search — it felt like a witch hunt. No safeguarding, no attempt to reach her as a vulnerable mother, just a hard push to capture and punish.

I think that approach had consequences. The police must take some responsibility for creating the kind of fear and pressure that led to this tragedy. The way they went about it likely made things worse — not better — for the baby.

It’s easy to say she was selfish or unstable, but mental health in the postnatal period is fragile. People don’t always think rationally when terrified. I just wish there had been more humanity in how it was all handled.
Anyone else feel the same?

The woman can choose to put her own life in danger but she cannot choose to put her children’s lives in danger.

It would be an extreme lack of safeguarding to allow children to remain in a violent environment.

I do actually feel sorry a bit for the fact that they will now be separated.

I'm not sure there are enough 😱emojis in the world for this. He threw her out of a window when she was four months pregnant and then tried to block paramedics from getting treatment for her. They killed their baby together and asked to go for a coffee during the subsequent trial because they were bored. And you think it's a shame that they'll be sent to prison and separated? Jesus Christ.

The way people some posters are describing her as “vulnerable” or having a “vulnerable” past is bizarre. More like entitled, anti-social and selfish.

I find it intriguing how coming from extreme privilege and from severe deprivation can both fuck people up and lead to them making very unwise choices.

At what point do you think it was the parent's responsibility?

Why should they have had visitation after adoption? Those children needed a clean start

Gordon was convicted in the US. What was our role in that?

The police were chasing killers.

Get over it.

Listened to an interesting podcast earlier - that there was no physical or dna evidence of the rape, only his own confession when he 14 with no adult present, the women who accused him never mentioned an English accent. I imagine this is what he spun to her and she clearly believed it, and added to her her fear of the Authorities. Sad sad case that we will never know the truth about.

Did you keep the zip of your coat done up over his head so nobody could see you were carrying a newborn? Probably not, since that's extremely dangerous.

I think there’s a vast difference between “unwise choices” eg. self indulgence and what she did with her boyfriend though. Also, lots of privileged people do very positive things with their lives; in fact they are lucky to be in the fortunate position to do so if they wish.

It seems to me they had chance after chance to the right thing. But they failed to keep their children (and themselves) safe on multiple occasions. The state had to step in.

I think it does go to show that sociopaths and psychopaths can come from all walks of life!

It's interesting that CM was sent to some awful Christian cult school abroad where it turns out the head of the organisation was alleged to be an abuser similar to Epstein who had young girls to order for his 'pleasure'. She must have witnessed some horrors there so perhaps no wonder she ended up with an abuser herself. It must have messed her up. I do feel an intense sadness for the poor child. There is no excuse in the world for not protecting an innocent child like that. It's hard to believe a mother could allow that to happen to her child. They both needed help for psychological disorders.

Hired help is no substitute for caring, loving parenting. It can work in conjunction with caring, loving parenting. But CM was clearly unable to provide that.
Very telling that her family thought the solution to this was to throw money at it.

@BungleWasBrill what do you think CM’s parents should have done?

YABVU. We’ve seen before what happens in tragic cases. Either the Police “didn’t do enough” or they “did too much”. Until you’ve seen it from their side - and I have - you’re not qualified to comment.

She spent only 4 months in that religious organisation/cult in Nigeria and she was with her mother. According to the BBC today there is NO reason to believe Marten was subjected to ANY abuse there. What horrors did she witness @Namechangey23 ? Even if that were true (and no evidence, CM said there subtle control was the way it probably worked) would that automatically turn her into an abuser?!! She was probably taken there by her mother to try and (mistakenly) help her after her issues at school. To use that as an excuse or explanation for her behaviour is ridiculous.

She has all her previous kids taken away ...this is the only thing the police was after in this 5th case

I wasn't talking about her baby - i was talking about children like the 2 I adopted, who are adults now, who can't use what happened to them as babies as an excuse.

Her first child was not removed because of her parents' disapproval of the relationship! Where did you get that nonsense from?

They couldn't use bank card or rent anywhere with being tracked, she was not going to be allowed live with the child, for good reason.

Their previous 4 children were taken into care because he started raping women at 14, and when Constance was pregnant he threw her out a window like 20ft and she hit a car. And while she lay with horrific injuries he atempted to prevent the paramedics attending her. He was horrifically violent, and risked killing her and the kids.

Tbh I think the police were stuck, he was unhinged. And i do feel a bit sorry for her, obviously a DV victim but she didnt want help,didnt want to help her children. He almost killed her, and I read when they finally got her to hospital he kept kicking off to get her discharged despite the risks to her life. And she agreed despite internal bleeding and a ruptured spleen. Unfortunately she chose him and as a result her daughter is dead and its only manslaughter becuase they couldnt confirm a cause of death. She could have been suffocated.

I do think Constance was vulnerable, but she kept choosing an abuser at the expense of her children and I dont think the police could have done much differnetly. I think it was only a matter of time before he killed her or one of their children.

I dont think we blame the police for this, they were the only chance that baby had

She had 4 kids taken away, refusing supervised contact with them. Kept choosing a rapist over her own kids. Covered her dead newborn in rubbish and dirty nappies and threw her away in a shed, decomposing. That's not a poor woman pushed to desperation that needed help. Nothing suggests she gave a shit about her kids or ever did.

The only thing this government and police could have done better in these situations is sterilising her!

People whose children are removed make up all sorts of stuff to explain it - it's never their fault.

My adopted daughters' birth parents split up after the children were removed. Birth mother told everyone it was because dad was a paedophile. This was not the reason - they were removed because neither of them could look after them.

I feel I have insufficient vocabulary to adequately sum up what an utter, utter load of tripe this post is.

Do you write poor quality fiction for a living @Pancakesandcream33 ??

I know. This has been a real insight this thread

That sounds interesting. I did wonder more about this conviction and whether there was DNA evidence. What is the podcast?

Why do people keep saying she was vulnerable? She was a fully grown up adult woman, also with plenty of financial freedom to make different choices.

100% could not happen. This person is lying or mistaken.