Constance Marten, 37, and Mark Gordon, 50, have been found guilty of concealing the birth of a child and perverting the course of justice following the death of their baby daughter, Victoria. The verdicts, delivered at the Old Bailey, can now be reported after a media application was granted.
The couple had also faced charges of manslaughter by gross negligence and causing or allowing the death of a child, which they denied. The jury was discharged last week after more than 72 hours of deliberation, and the Crown has announced it will seek a retrial on those charges.
The court heard that Marten and Gordon went off-grid with their daughter to evade authorities after four other children were taken into care. Over seven weeks, they travelled across England and slept in a tent on the South Downs.
The search for the baby began after a placenta was found in a burning car near Bolton, Greater Manchester, on 5 January last year. The couple travelled by taxi from the north-west to Harwich, East Ham, and Newhaven before being arrested in Brighton on 27 February. Two days later, Victoria's badly decomposed body was found wrapped in a pink sheet in a Lidl bag on a nearby allotment.
Judge Mark Lucraft KC has set a provisional retrial date of 3 March next year, expected to last six to eight weeks. Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford of Scotland Yard confirmed that the investigation team will prepare for the retrial and will not make further public statements until its conclusion.
