GUILTY UK - Constance Marten & Mark Gordon charged in death of baby Victoria, Guilty on counts 1 & 5, 2025 retrial on manslaughter, 5 Jan 2023 #8

[Obergine]

But they are insufferable.

JMO

Tru dat - and MG admitted himself they were 'deranged'.

 

[Alyce]

Mark Gordon is a convicted rapist who served 22 years in a US prison,

On Thursday, jurors were told that Gordon has convictions in the US over two incidents dating back to 1989,
resulting in a 40-year jail term which he served just over half of in prison.

He broke into a house of a nextdoor neighbour, and before doing so he had placed a nylon sock over his face to conceal his identity”,
“He was armed with a knife and hedge clippers. He demanded the female present in the property undress.”

Gordon was convicted after a trial of attempting to rape the woman, orally raping her, and carrying out further sexual assaults.
“That female was held by him for a period of four-and-a-half hours against her will in the property.”
Jurors heard the incident happened on April 29, 1989 in Florida

three weeks later on May 21, in the same state, Gordon carried out an armed burglary on a home and attacked one of the occupants.He entered the property occupied by a family. When he did so, he was armed with a flat headed shovel.
Once inside, he beat a male occupant with that shovel about the head.
Subsequently, he pleaded guilty to two offences.”



more at the link .............

Constance Marten's partner Mark Gordon was jailed for rape, court told

Mark Gordon spent 22 years in prison for rape, burglary, and assault, trial told

www.standard.co.uk

 

[Skigh]

Mark Gordon is a convicted rapist who served 22 years in a US prison,

On Thursday, jurors were told that Gordon has convictions in the US over two incidents dating back to 1989,
resulting in a 40-year jail term which he served just over half of in prison.

He broke into a house of a nextdoor neighbour, and before doing so he had placed a nylon sock over his face to conceal his identity”,
“He was armed with a knife and hedge clippers. He demanded the female present in the property undress.”

Gordon was convicted after a trial of attempting to rape the woman, orally raping her, and carrying out further sexual assaults.
“That female was held by him for a period of four-and-a-half hours against her will in the property.”
Jurors heard the incident happened on April 29, 1989 in Florida

three weeks later on May 21, in the same state, Gordon carried out an armed burglary on a home and attacked one of the occupants.He entered the property occupied by a family. When he did so, he was armed with a flat headed shovel.
Once inside, he beat a male occupant with that shovel about the head.
Subsequently, he pleaded guilty to two offences.”



more at the link .............

Constance Marten's partner Mark Gordon was jailed for rape, court told

Mark Gordon spent 22 years in prison for rape, burglary, and assault, trial told

www.standard.co.uk

Amazing that he felt able to stand in front of the jury last week and tell them what a kind ,empathetic ,caring person he is.
No wonder the Marten family were not happy with his relationship with Connie.

What a huge shame he did not serve his full term of 40 years in an American prison.

 

[Carriep]

So how is that similar to this case?? MG and CM visited Peru together they did not get robbed traumatised or go missing there!
They chose to live in a tent right from the start with the first baby even though they had access to trust fund money. They left properties trashed and owing rent. Made no plans or provisions with their first pregnancy, lied and gave false names chose not to work for a living . Are you suggesting this was all down to trauma and mental health issues ??

No. I was trying to do the opposite. I do not believe there is a similarity between the two cases.

 

[Alyce]

Amazing that he felt able to stand in front of the jury last week and tell them what a kind ,empathetic ,caring person he is.
No wonder the Marten family were not happy with his relationship with Connie.

What a huge shame he did not serve his full term of 40 years in an American prison.

I wonder if he is now regretting parting ways with his Counsel. They would have advised him that his
I'm a wonderful character fable would almost certainly open the door to the Prosecution being able to bring up his past violent crimes, in order to balance the evidence for the Jury.

 

[Skigh]

I wonder if he is now regretting parting ways with his Counsel. They would have advised him that his
I'm a wonderful character fable would almost certainly open the door to the Prosecution being able to bring up his past violent crimes, in order to balance the evidence for the Jury.

He thought he was being so clever and could do so much better than them.!!!

 

[Carriep]

While we are on the topic of CM's time overseas, you can see some of the photographs she took in Egypt here:

For the love of Egypt | The Journal of Wild Culture

On the beauty and heartache of Egypt — and its present quarrel with itself and history. By Yahia Lababidi. Photographs by Constance Marten.

www.wildculture.com

They are published by the Society for the Preservation of Wild Culture.

"Constance Marten works as a freelance journalist, but has a passion for social documentary and street photography. She is the winner of the 2012 ‘Through the Lens of Al Jazeera’ photography competition. Constance is based in London."

 

[bmacmillan1]

What

While we are on the topic of CM's time overseas, you can see some of the photographs she took in Egypt here:

For the love of Egypt | The Journal of Wild Culture

On the beauty and heartache of Egypt — and its present quarrel with itself and history. By Yahia Lababidi. Photographs by Constance Marten.

www.wildculture.com

They are published by the Society for the Preservation of Wild Culture.

"Constance Marten works as a freelance journalist, but has a passion for social documentary and street photography. She is the winner of the 2012 ‘Through the Lens of Al Jazeera’ photography competition. Constance is based in London."

What went wrong...
She was clearly talented in many fields,, had looks and had the world at her feet.
And look at her now.

 

[Alyce]

In his evidence last week, Gordon, who is representing himself, made no reference to his troubled past

He said his mother was a hard-working nurse who was passionate and empathetic and had instilled compassion in him.


The prosecutor also asked the officer: “Did he attempt to vaginally rape her?”, “did he orally rape her and perform other sexual assault offences?” and “was that female held by him for a period of four-and half-hours against her will in the property”?
Det Sgt Valentine replied “yes” to all the questions.

Constance Marten’s partner was convicted of rape in US aged 14, court told

Marten, 38, and Mark Gordon, 50, are charged with the manslaughter of their baby daughter Victoria.

www.irishnews.com

 

[Alyce]

Agreed facts were also read to the jury

Virginie de Selliers, Marten’s mother, engaged the private investigators group, London Security Group Limited, to trace her daughter in 2016.
Marten’s father, Napier Marten, approached the same firm and a “tracing company” called CSM Partners Limited to approach Gordon in 2017.
Ms De Selliers also instructed a firm of private investigators called Blackstone Consultancy in 2021 to locate Marten and Gordon.

On December 17 2019, Mrs Justice Judd sitting in the England and Wales High Court Family Division made an order, following an application by Napier Marten, that Marten and Gordon’s two children were made wards of the court and their parents prohibited from moving them out of the jurisdiction of the court.
The wardship proceedings finished in January 2020, meaning the order was not in force from that date.


Details of cash withdrawals from Marten’s bank accounts from December 2022 to February 2023 were also revealed to the jury.

https://www.enfieldindependent.co.uk/news/national/25201222.constance-martens-partner-convicted-rape-us-aged-14-court-told/

 

[jackal67]

She met MG

What

What went wrong...
She was clearly talented in many fields,, had looks and had the world at her feet.
And look at her now.

She met MG !! Why him ??? Crazy

 

[Carriep]

How CM's counsel deals with today's evidence in his closing speech could be interesting, given that his job is to put the case for not guilty verdicts for his own client only.

Apologies in advance for again thinking of this trial as if it were in a novel, but ... if MG were to change his plea the jury might not take very long to return not guilty verdicts for CM. (Just my completely rampant imagination.)

 

[CaptainNancy]

It seems ever more likely that CM’s parents were looking for her because they were frantic about the welfare of their daughter and grandchildren. Rather than acting as malevolent ‘forces’ (from MG’s testimony) with racist intent (CM’s testimony) trying to sabotage the steering or blow up their vehicles (CM’s testimony).

It does seem very sad that she abandoned her creative and journalistic career to attach herself to MG, with the ensuing terrible results. 4 traumatised children (whatever the necessity for the removal of children it is slways going to leave trauma ), one dead baby (bless her soul) , CM spending 2 years and counting in Bronzefield prison, and with lifelong knowledge of the death of Victoria.

She gave up everything to spend her life with MG. And she had options. Money. Friends. Family, at least some of whom she was close to.

And now his decision to sack his legal advisors and shout his mouth off in court will also reflect very badly on her.

 

[jackal67]

How CM's counsel deals with today's evidence in his closing speech could be interesting, given that his job is to put the case for not guilty verdicts for his own client only.

Apologies in advance for again thinking of this trial as if it were in a novel, but ... if MG were to change his plea the jury might not take very long to return not guilty verdicts for CM. (Just my completely rampant imagination.)

But why would the jury find CM not guilty she chose this man over everything her kids included,
She knew about his violent past too

 

[bmacmillan1]

It seems ever more likely that CM’s parents were looking for her because they were frantic about the welfare of their daughter and grandchildren. Rather than acting as malevolent ‘forces’ (from MG’s testimony) with racist intent (CM’s testimony) trying to sabotage the steering or blow up their vehicles (CM’s testimony).

It does seem very sad that she abandoned her creative and journalistic career to attach herself to MG, with the ensuing terrible results. 4 traumatised children (whatever the necessity for the removal of children it is slways going to leave trauma ), one dead baby (bless her soul) , CM spending 2 years and counting in Bronzefield prison, and with lifelong knowledge of the death of Victoria.

She gave up everything to spend her life with MG. And she had options. Money. Friends. Family, at least some of whom she was close to.

And now his decision to sack his legal advisors and shout his mouth off in court will also reflect very badly on her.

He is the one who scored out of this relationship. He would never relinquish a hold of her, she's his meal ticket and luckily for him for some unknown reason is obsessively besotted by him. He holds all the power it seems.

 

[Carriep]

It seems ever more likely that CM’s parents were looking for her because they were frantic about the welfare of their daughter and grandchildren. Rather than acting as malevolent ‘forces’ (from MG’s testimony) with racist intent (CM’s testimony) trying to sabotage the steering or blow up their vehicles (CM’s testimony).

It does seem very sad that she abandoned her creative and journalistic career to attach herself to MG, with the ensuing terrible results. 4 traumatised children (whatever the necessity for the removal of children it is slways going to leave trauma ), one dead baby (bless her soul) , CM spending 2 years and counting in Bronzefield prison, and with lifelong knowledge of the death of Victoria.

She gave up everything to spend her life with MG. And she had options. Money. Friends. Family, at least some of whom she was close to.

And now his decision to sack his legal advisors and shout his mouth off in court will also reflect very badly on her.

I got the opposite impression - it may win sympathy for her.

More here on MG's cross-examination of the police witness who gave evidence about the 1980s convictions, and also on the private detectives:

Mark Gordon previously convicted of rape in US, Old Bailey retrial told

Gordon, who is on trial with his partner Constance Marten over the death of their child, was previously jailed in the US.

www.bbc.co.uk

In questions (...) Mark Gordon, who is now representing himself, suggested that he had been "manipulated" in his police interviews in Florida, saying he had been a 14-year-old child without adult supervision.

...

The jury also heard that on three occasions Marten's family commissioned private investigators to conduct surveillance on the couple.

A company called LSG was hired by Marten's mother, Virginie de Selliers, in 2016 to trace her daughter. LSG was successful and managed to take some photos of the couple.

LSG was then hired by Marten's father, Napier Marten, to engineer a meeting in a café.

Mrs de Selliers hired a second company, Blackstone Consultancy, in 2021 to investigate the couple's "pattern of life". The resulting investigation, dubbed "Operation Lynx", lasted two months, and more photographs were taken.

Who met whom in the café?

And here - note the word "approach" (BBM):

https://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/national/25201222.constance-martens-partner-convicted-rape-us-aged-14-court-told/

Agreed facts were also read to the jury, which included that Virginie de Selliers, Marten’s mother, engaged the private investigators group, London Security Group Limited, to trace her daughter in 2016.

Jurors were also told that Marten’s father, Napier Marten, approached the same firm and a “tracing company” called CSM Partners Limited to approach Gordon in 2017.

 

[jackal67]

He is the one who scored out of this relationship. He would never relinquish a hold of her, she's his meal ticket and luckily for him for some unknown reason is obsessively besotted by him. He holds all the power it seems.

I agree she had so many choices in life but threw them all away. What was in this relationship for her !!

 

[jackal67]

I got the opposite impression - it may win sympathy for her.

More here on MG's cross-examination of the police witness who gave evidence about the 1980s convictions, and also on the private detectives:

Mark Gordon previously convicted of rape in US, Old Bailey retrial told

Gordon, who is on trial with his partner Constance Marten over the death of their child, was previously jailed in the US.

www.bbc.co.uk

Who met whom in the café?

And here - note the word "approach" (BBM):

https://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/national/25201222.constance-martens-partner-convicted-rape-us-aged-14-court-told/

Win her sympathy !! are you serious ?? She chose this man with his horrendous past crimes over everything and everyone.
What parent wouldnt be worried if their daughter married this man? Nothing to do with the colour of his skin .

 

[Carriep]

But why would the jury find CM not guilty she chose this man over everything her kids included,
She knew about his violent past too

Just how contrast works in many minds...

Wearing my rational hat, I'm not sure the rape conviction from almost 40 years ago says much either way about the strength of the crown's case in the current trial when they aren't alleging any violence.

Win her sympathy !! are you serious ?? She chose this man with his horrendous past crimes over everything and everyone.
What parent wouldnt be worried if their daughter married this man? Nothing to do with the colour of his skin .

It could win her sympathy not in connection with her relationship with her parents but in her relationship with MG. They might think she's totally besotted, he's bewitched her somehow, all she's guilty of is being a stupid idiot, that kind of thing.

 

[Baby baby Jane]

In his evidence last week, Gordon, who is representing himself, made no reference to his troubled past

He said his mother was a hard-working nurse who was passionate and empathetic and had instilled compassion in him.


The prosecutor also asked the officer: “Did he attempt to vaginally rape her?”, “did he orally rape her and perform other sexual assault offences?” and “was that female held by him for a period of four-and half-hours against her will in the property”?
Det Sgt Valentine replied “yes” to all the questions.

Constance Marten’s partner was convicted of rape in US aged 14, court told

Marten, 38, and Mark Gordon, 50, are charged with the manslaughter of their baby daughter Victoria.

www.irishnews.com

MG was 14 years old at the time of the rape … fourteen years old. And then months later, another violent crime.

(Not the crime of a child, IMO, he was 14 but his crime was not. Not interested in hearing about brain development and him being a child, nor poor MG incarcerated for more years than his age. Hopefully UK gives him the extra 20 years than America did not. My opinion of course. )

And, their kids taken away because of domestic violence … his/hers/both?