Runaway aristocrat and partner guilty of baby death

CONSTANCE Marten and her partner Mark Gordon have been found guilty of manslaughter over the death of their newborn daughter.

- EMILY PENNINK

The infant died in freezing conditions in December 2022, after the pair went on the run to evade social services.

Marten, 38, who grew up at Crichel House, the palatial 18th-century Georgian estate in Dorset, claimed that she was attempting to live off grid in a tent on the South Downs with her convicted rapist partner Mark Gordon, 51, in a bid to 'protect' their newborn daughter, Victoria. The pair have four other children, all of whom were previously taken into care.

Prosecutor Tom Little KC told the court during their Old Bailey trial that the baby had been placed in “utterly reckless, utterly dangerous” conditions by Marten and Gordon, meaning her death was “inevitable”. The trial revealed that the couple had previously been warned of the dangers of attempting to live ‘off-grid’ with a child by social services.

The prosecution revealed that Victoria likely died from hypothermia in the cold wintry conditions of the tent, or may have been smothered while co-sleeping. Marten cast blame on social services, her wealthy aristocratic family, and the media after Victoria died - however, the full circumstances surrounding her four other children and the reasons for them being taken into care are only now being reported at the conclusion of the trial.