A couple have been jailed for 14 years for the gross negligence manslaughter of their newborn daughter while on the run.Constance Marten, 38, and Mark Gordon, 51, were sentenced on Monday after being found guilty in July following a lengthy retrial at the Old Bailey.The decomposed body of their baby, Victoria, was found in a shopping bag in Brighton in 2023. Police had been searching for the couple for 53 days after officers found evidence of a recent birth in a burnt-out car near Bolton.Passing sentence, Judge Mark Lucraft KC told the couple “neither of you gave much thought to the care or welfare of your baby” and said there had been “no genuine expression of remorse” from either of them.Gordon will serve a further four years on extended licence, the judge said. There was no reaction from either defendant as they were sentenced.The first trial found Marten and Gordon guilty of concealing the birth of a child, perverting the course of justice by not reporting her death, and of child cruelty.During the police manhunt that spanned different parts of England, the couple slept outside and took steps to avoid being found.They were eventually located on 27 February 2023, and Victoria was discovered dead two days later in an allotment shed in the Hollingbury area of Brighton.She had died in a tent on the South Downs in January that year. The judge sentenced Marten and Gordon on the basis Victoria died of hypothermia – both defendants had argued against that during the hearing.During a months-long retrial, the judge said the couple tried to “sabotage” and “manipulate” proceedings.Disruption continued during Monday’s sentencing hearing, during which the judge told off both defendants for passing notes in the dock. He told them it showed “a complete lack of respect”.During mitigation, Marten’s barrister Tom Godfrey told the court: “The sorrow that Constance Marten feels is impalpable.”He added: “She has, ever since an early stage, accepted that her baby died as a result of something she did. That fact weighs very heavily on her conscience and will do so for the rest of her life.”Gordon’s barrister, Philippa McAtasney KC, said Gordon had told her “I regret that things happened the way they happened” and that he will “live with this for the remainder of his life”.
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Constance Marten and Mark Gordon jailed for 14 years over baby’s death
