LONDON: A British aristocrat and her convicted rapist partner face imprisonment for the manslaughter of their newborn daughter who died during their off-grid existence in freezing conditions.
Constance Marten, 38, and Mark Gordon, 51, were apprehended following a seven-week police search in early 2023 during which they resided in a tent.
The couple were found guilty in July at London’s Old Bailey central criminal court after a retrial became necessary when the initial jury could not reach a verdict.
Marten and Gordon fled authorities to prevent their daughter Victoria from being taken into care like their four other children.
Police eventually arrested the pair two months later in Brighton on England’s southern coast.
Baby Victoria’s severely decomposed remains were discovered days afterwards in a shopping bag on a vegetable patch.
The defendants also await sentencing for perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child and child cruelty.
Marten informed police that Victoria died when she fell asleep in the tent while holding the infant beneath her jacket.
Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford of the Metropolitan Police stated their selfish actions caused the death of a newborn baby who deserved a full life ahead of her.
He emphasised that the conviction validated the authorities’ decision to remove Marten’s four other children from her care.
Marten enjoyed a privileged upbringing in a 25-room mansion on a large Dorset estate with her aristocratic family having strong royal connections.
Her grandmother maintained a childhood friendship with the late Queen Elizabeth II while her father served as a royal page boy.
Gordon experienced a dramatically different childhood marked by violence and criminal behaviour from an early age.
Prosecutors revealed that Gordon, aged 14, held a woman captive for over four hours in Florida during 1989 while armed with a knife and hedge clippers.
He committed another aggravated battery offence within a month of the initial attack.
The court heard that Gordon received a 40-year prison sentence but was released after serving 22 years.
In 2017, Gordon was convicted of assaulting two female police officers at a Welsh maternity unit where Marten delivered their first child using a false identity. – AFP