Constance Marten and Mark Gordon both jailed for 14 years over death of baby in tent | UK news
After starting to live in a tent in winter conditions to avoid social services, two parents who caused the death of their newborn babies were sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon came out of the grill at the end of 2022; If left with the couple, four elderly children who have previously been taken care of because of their safety.
A jury in Old Bailey unanimously found them guilty of killing them in July. During the first hearing last year, the defendants were convicted of misleading the course of justice and hiding the birth of a child and child cruelty.
Judge Mark Lucraft, who condemned them on Monday, told them: “What you do against the baby Victoria can be defined as neglect; the negligence of the most severe and most serious species.”
And the London recorder added: “You haven’t had a real regret.” When they said that they expressed the sadness, they had adopted the stance of trying to blame everyone ”.
On Monday, the Lucraft KC couple imprisoned for 14 years and gave Gordon a four -year extended license.
At the first hearing, the jury members were not told about the violent history of Gordon, which was partially announced in the second hearing. And Lucraft listed this among the aggravating factors.
Gordon and Marten ran for seven weeks before being found by the police in East Sussex, Brighton.
On January 5, 2023, the officers started a nationwide hunt after finding the couple’s burnt car on a highway near Bolton and Greater Manchester.
The couple traveled in the UK in taxis with the newborn; Finally, it ends in the rural area near Brighton.
After a search by the police, Victoria’s body was found in the middle of the garbage in a Lidl bag in an unused hut. His remnants were very bad to determine the cause of death.
The prosecution said he had died or drowned in cold and humid conditions in the caries tent.
The defendants claimed that Marten’s death was a tragic accident after he fell asleep. In 1989, the 14 -year -old Gordon hired a woman against her will in Florida for more than four hours and raped her with a knife and fence scissors. He entered another property within a month and carried out another crime containing aggravated batteries.
Gordon moved to the United States from Birmingham, 12 years old, was sentenced to 40 years in prison and was released 22 years later.
Although Marten accidentally explained Gordon’s rape conviction while giving evidence, the jury members re -trial were shaken by the revelations.
In 2017, Gordon attacked two female police officers in a birth unit in Wales, where Marten gave birth to his first children under a false identity.
The jury members were told that Marten was warned by a baby lying on him by a baby lying on him and that a tent was not appropriate.
Both defendants gave evidence in their re -trial, but each of them shortened their statements before they were examined by the prosecution.
Gordon was told that the custody period would serve two -thirds before serving the rest and in the extended period for the undergraduate period.
