GUILTY UK - Constance Marten & Mark Gordon charged in death of baby Victoria, GUILTY on all counts incl retrial on manslaughter, 5 Jan 2023 #9

[dotr]

Constance Marten and Mark Gordon jailed for 14 years over baby's death​

02:13 Media caption,
Watch at link: Moment judge sentences Gordon

Constance Marten and Mark Gordon jailed for 14 years over baby's death

The couple were found guilty in July after a lengthy retrial at the Old Bailey.

www.bbc.co.uk

Thank you for all the updates @JennieM!

 

[iamshadow21]

Para.40 of the sentencing remarks is likely to get taken to bits at appeal IMO:

"(Your) conduct occurred in the context of the previous care proceedings. Those proceedings
show there had been previous instances of significant failings by each of you towards your
other children. Those failings are relevant to the assessment of seriousness."

A different view of those proceedings and their context from the one that was held by the judge in them wasn't allowed to be presented at the trial. Lucraft seems to be saying that trying to prevent your fifth child from being taken, after the first four were taken, is more serious than if it was your first one.

https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Rex-v-Mark-Gordon-and-Constance-Marten.pdf

I think he's actually saying that they have a record of abuse and neglect of other children. A pattern of behaviour documented, of which the death of Victoria is part, not an isolated incident.

MOO

 

[Deleted member 367833]

The Sun have got hold of a video of CM, which they are publishing as an exclusive:

Leader called ‘daddy’ & armed guards… Constance Marten reveals life in cult

KILLER mum Constance Marten spent months in a Nigerian cult where she was forced to call the leader “daddy” after he told them: “I’ll be your new father now.” Shocking footage obt…

www.thesun.co.uk

 

[JennieM]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed due to contrary to what the judge has stated>

The judge said yesterday about the 4 other children:

“They were placed with foster parents, because the family court found that the pair both presented "significant risk of harm to your children", Judge Lucraft says.

Constance Marten and Mark Gordon jailed for 14 years over death of their baby

The judge says the couple have not shown any "genuine expression of remorse", after baby Victoria's death in a tent in 2023.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Alyce]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed> Anyone who takes the time to read the family court documents can see the level of neglect that the other 4 children suffered over a sustained period of time, as a consequence of their parents choosing not to visit them.
Surely this consistent neglect / avoidance of the children, to the point where the eldest child suffered medical episodes and distress due to never knowing if his parents would turn up or not, can be categorised as abusive.

 

[Lucy6226]

Indeed. Anyone who takes the time to read the family court documents can see the level of neglect that the other 4 children suffered over a sustained period of time, as a consequence of their parents choosing not to visit them.
Surely this consistent neglect / avoidance of the children, to the point where the eldest child suffered medical episodes and distress due to never knowing if his parents would turn up or not, can be categorised as abusive.

Absolutely. Emotional neglect often gets overlooked as it's not as 'obvious' as physical or sexual abuse can be. It's just as damaging imo

 

[CaptainNancy]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed>

They don’t seem to have been prosecuted for abuse and neglect no, so not a criminal offence.

But they were found to have a long record of different types of abuse and neglect, as documented in the family court papers.

It can’t all have been a corrupt stitch up, across multiple SS teams and courts in different areas.

 

[Skigh]

Dbm

 

[CaptainNancy]

That looks interesting Skigh… but I have forgotten how to read pay walled sites

 

[Telltale]

It cannot be overstated how Constance could have played life on easy mode. She had 2.5k per month that went up to 3.6k from her trust fund. She applied for and got 50k in the three months before she went on the run. The trust would have paid for a house.

That's a middle class debt free lifestyle before either of them got so much as a minimum wage job.

Hell I'll bet she could have got them to agree to pay a full time nanny for her kids. They had money for him to live separately and work with social services if they were concerned with safeguarding.

They weren't on drink or drugs as far as we know. They were given literally every chance and were in a ridiculously privileged position to raise their family. It took years of effort to neglect and loose and finally kill one of their kids.

 

[Megnut]

It cannot be overstated how Constance could have played life on easy mode. She had 2.5k per month that went up to 3.6k from her trust fund. She applied for and got 50k in the three months before she went on the run. The trust would have paid for a house.

That's a middle class debt free lifestyle before either of them got so much as a minimum wage job.

Hell I'll bet she could have got them to agree to pay a full time nanny for her kids. They had money for him to live separately and work with social services if they were concerned with safeguarding.

They weren't on drink or drugs as far as we know. They were given literally every chance and were in a ridiculously privileged position to raise their family. It took years of effort to neglect and loose and finally kill one of their kids.

Gold star for your post.

Black star on them.

JMO

 

[CaptainNancy]

You are right: the family courts are not criminal courts and though they were found to be unsafe as parents, in the view of the court, they were not subject to criminal charges over that behaviour until the sad death of Victoria.

 

[Deleted member 367833]

You are right: the family courts are not criminal courts and though they were found to be unsafe as parents, in the view of the court, they were not subject to criminal charges over that behaviour until the sad death of Victoria.

I know I am right.

 

[Maltesepuppy]

It cannot be overstated how Constance could have played life on easy mode. She had 2.5k per month that went up to 3.6k from her trust fund. She applied for and got 50k in the three months before she went on the run. The trust would have paid for a house.

That's a middle class debt free lifestyle before either of them got so much as a minimum wage job.

Hell I'll bet she could have got them to agree to pay a full time nanny for her kids. They had money for him to live separately and work with social services if they were concerned with safeguarding.

They weren't on drink or drugs as far as we know. They were given literally every chance and were in a ridiculously privileged position to raise their family. It took years of effort to neglect and loose and finally kill one of their kids.

I couldn't agree more. Her access to funds makes this all the more enraging. It rankles that the gutter press keeps titling articles with "the Aristocrat" but it is a reminder that she had resources that most people don't have, even when they work as hard as they can.
I have also said this before but they were living in a tent with baby numer 1. MG has said in this trial that they were forced into a tent by the police and even hinted that they would take legal action against the police for this. No doubt seeing the dollar sign of the child whose death he contributed to.
However with baby number 1 with no police chasing them, they chose to be in a tent surrounded by urine bottles. I have no doubt that they would have taken the baby there if authorities had not intervened. They were more concerned about being judged for their "alternative lifestyle" than providing their new born with a comfortable home. What were they exactly rebelling against? A flushing toilet?
Like you said money could have got them so much. Homeless families have to endure hostels and years of "temporary" housing before permanent housing. They have to make constant changes of schools for the children.
All CM had to do was grab her phone and send a damn email to the trust. And yet, she's still sore and hard done by because she's such a victim.
There's no a single redeeming feature for me with these 2.

 

[Lucy6226]

We must remember that many, many abusers are never charged, prosecuted or convicted. That doesn't mean the abuse didn't happen. Many victims get no day in court or get told there isn't enough evidence, except their word of course.

CM & MG had multiple children removed from their care. Evidence was presented in court by multiple professionals, not just social services and the judge made the decision that the children would be at risk of significant harm if left in the care of their parents. That ruling needs to be respected regardless of no criminal court proceedings relating to the other children.

Had CM & MG been prosecuted, would that have changed the outcome for those children? No. Would it have prevented further children being born? Probably not imo. It was inevitable that a child in their care would be seriously harmed or die imo...and that's the reason the others were removed!

All moo

 

[CaptainNancy]

Also, many women are trapped with abusive, violent and or coercive men because they have no alternative accommodation or their own money.

The relationship has not been presented as abusive / co-ercive but if the father of my baby assaulted 2 police in my maternity ward I would not stay with him. Likewise, even if the window incident was an accident, how does a caring man let his heavily pregnant wife climb on the roof to fix an aerial? How does a caring man bar entrance to paramedics to tend to the mother of his children? They called the police in order to be able to attend to her. She had significant internal injuries, she could have died. And he refused access to the ambulance crew.

She had every resource to be able to get away from him. And social workers advised her to leave him.

That lobby group say ‘a mother would do anything to keep her child’. Well yes. Starting with cooperating with social workers, and leaving a violent abusive man, Not taking a newborn into a flimsy tent with flimsy equipment in January.

So many women would leave abusive men if they had the resources she had.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Also, many women are trapped with abusive, violent and or coercive men because they have no alternative accommodation or their own money.

The relationship has not been presented as abusive / co-ercive but if the father of my baby assaulted 2 police in my maternity ward I would not stay with him. Likewise, even if the window incident was an accident, how does a caring man let his heavily pregnant wife climb on the roof to fix an aerial? How does a caring man bar entrance to paramedics to tend to the mother of his children? They called the police in order to be able to attend to her. She had significant internal injuries, she could have died. And he refused access to the ambulance crew.

She had every resource to be able to get away from him. And social workers advised her to leave him.

That lobby group say ‘a mother would do anything to keep her child’. Well yes. Starting with cooperating with social workers, and leaving a violent abusive man, Not taking a newborn into a flimsy tent with flimsy equipment in January.

So many women would leave abusive men if they had the resources she had.

Very sadly some people are more obsessed with their partner than they care about their child(ren).
We see time after time after time, women who have allowed a predator and abuser access to their children and then turn a blind eye or do nothing or cover up like Baby P's mum. We also see the fairly rare but horrific cases of two adults who co-abuse children and even go so far as what Rose & Fred West did.
Plenty of women choose a violent man over their children day in day out, sadly.
I can't comprehend it but it's often not about being trapped, it's something else IMO.

JMO MOO

 

[CaptainNancy]

Very sadly some people are more obsessed with their partner than they care about their child(ren).
We see time after time after time, women who have allowed a predator and abuser access to their children and then turn a blind eye or do nothing or cover up like Baby P's mum. We also see the fairly rare but horrific cases of two adults who co-abuse children and even go so far as what Rose & Fred West did.
Plenty of women choose a violent man over their children day in day out, sadly.
I can't comprehend it but it's often not about being trapped, it's something else IMO.

JMO MOO

I think these two chose their anti-authority, paranoid, no medical intervention, Sovereign Citizen ideology over the welfare of their children.
And that they were a cult of two supporting each other in that.
I actually think she controlled him as much as he controlled her. As if they brainwashed each other. But she had the means to escape.

 

[Lucy6226]

I think these two chose their anti-authority, paranoid, no medical intervention, Sovereign Citizen ideology over the welfare of their children.
And that they were a cult of two supporting each other in that.
I actually think she controlled him as much as he controlled her. As if they brainwashed each other. But she had the means to escape.

Exactly this. Their 'we know better' attitude and lack of respect for any authority has shone through throughout it all.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

I think these two chose their anti-authority, paranoid, no medical intervention, Sovereign Citizen ideology over the welfare of their children.
And that they were a cult of two supporting each other in that.
I actually think she controlled him as much as he controlled her. As if they brainwashed each other. But she had the means to escape.

Agree with the Sov Cit x folie a deux theory, in fact I like to think it was me who identified that early on.

As CM had no desire to escape, there's nothing she needed the means to escape for.
Likewise MG could have likely got a lot of support if he'd tried to explain to the right kind of people that he'd got himself enmeshed in a chaotic relationship with a privileged but unstable woman and didn't want to end up back in prison. He also wasn't looking to escape either it seems.

JMO MOO