Constance Marten has been granted permission to appeal the 14-year jail sentence she was handed for the death of her baby daughter. The 39-year-old aristocrat and her partner Mark Gordon, 52, were in hiding when their baby, Victoria, died in a tent on the South Downs in January 2023.
Case background and conviction
The police hunt for the couple began on the M61 motorway near Bolton, when their burning car was discovered. The defendants had fled authorities to prevent baby Victoria being taken into care, as four other siblings had been before, the Old Bailey had heard. They were found guilty of her manslaughter, child cruelty, concealing the birth of a child and perverting the course of justice following two trials spanning six months each.
In September 2025, Judge Mark Lucraft KC jailed them both for 14 years and handed Gordon a further four years on extended licence. The judge accepted the prosecution case that baby Victoria died from hypothermia after being exposed to 'significant cold stress'. He rejected the defendants’ claims that Victoria was smothered in a 'terrible accident' as they slept in the tent.
Appeal application and judge's remarks
In a new update, Marten has now been granted permission to appeal the sentence, and renewed her application for permission to appeal her gross negligence manslaughter conviction. A court date is yet to be set.
In the televised sentencing of the pair last year, Judge Lucraft told the defendants: “It is clear throughout the period neither of you gave much or any thought for the care or love for your baby.” The judge said they had displayed 'arrogance' and treated Victoria to 'neglect of the most serious type'.
Police hunt and arrest
Police had launched a nationwide hunt after the couple’s car burst into flames on the M61 near Bolton on January 5, 2023. The defendants travelled across England and went off-grid, sleeping in a tent on the South Downs where baby Victoria died days later. After seven weeks on the run, the defendants were arrested in Brighton. After a desperate search, police found their baby dead amid rubbish inside a Lidl bag in a disused shed nearby.
