Aristocrat, Boyfriend Get 14 Years in Baby's Death

UPDATE Sep 15, 2025 6:52 PM CDT

A British aristocrat and her boyfriend were sentenced to 14 years in prison on Monday for killing their newborn through negligence while on the run from authorities. Constance Marten, 38, and her boyfriend, Mark Gordon, 51, a convicted sex offender, were sentenced Monday after being found guilty of gross negligence manslaughter at London's Central Criminal Court in July, the AP reports. They were previously convicted of perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child, and child cruelty.

• During sentencing, the judge ruled that the baby died of hypothermia after being exposed to "significant cold stress," rejecting the couple's claims that she died in a "terrible accident." "It is clear throughout the period neither of you gave much or any thought for the care or love for your baby," Judge Mark Lucraft told the defendants.
• "To most right-thinking people, their children are the most precious beings, to be nurtured and cared for," Lucraft said, per the Telegraph. "To be kept warm, to be fed, even at the expense of parents' own comfort, and above all to be loved. What you did towards baby Victoria, despite all you claim to have done, can only be described as neglect—neglect of the gravest and most serious type that led ultimately to her death by your gross negligence."

Jul 14, 2025 11:59 AM CDT

A British aristocrat who went on the run with her boyfriend and their newborn daughter in 2023 were convicted Monday of killing the infant. Constance Marten, 38, and Mark Gordon, 51, were found guilty of gross negligence manslaughter during their second trial at London's Central Criminal Court. They were previously convicted of perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child, and child cruelty during their first trial, per the AP. Marten had secretly given birth to a girl named Victoria after the couple's other four children were taken by courts that found there was a risk of harm to them.

Despite having wealthy parents with connections to the royal family and her own trust fund, Marten rejected her privilege. She lived at times without paying rent, and while on the lam she scavenged food from trash bins and camped in freezing conditions. Police launched a massive nationwide search that lasted seven weeks after a placenta was found Jan. 5, 2023, in the couple's burned-out and abandoned car in northwestern England. The couple spent hundreds of dollars on cabs to shuttle around the country as they avoided using credit cards or anything that might ID them.

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After their arrest in Brighton on Feb. 27, the couple refused to say where the baby was. Gordon, who served more than 20 years in a US prison for rape, said, "What's the big deal?" when asked about the baby's welfare. Two days later, police found the baby's decomposed body in a shopping bag under garbage in a garden shed. The infant either died from hypothermia or was suffocated, prosecutors said. The couple said it was a tragic accident that occurred when Marten was sleeping. Both defendants testified during the second trial, but they cut their testimony short during cross-examination. Marten called the prosecution "heartless" and "diabolical."