Constance Marten and Mark Gordon underwent two chaotic trials concerning the death of their baby, exhibiting contempt for the court process. Their initial trial resulted in convictions for concealing the birth and child cruelty but failed to resolve one serious charge. The second trial led to convictions for manslaughter by gross negligence. Throughout both trials, their behavior was disruptive, with frequent absences from court and contempt for judicial proceedings, which led to significant delays and exasperation from the presiding judge.
Their trials were extraordinary. A couple who were twice in the dock over the death of their baby, they appeared to be completely in love and still fiercely united.
Their behaviour - from refusing to turn up to court and claiming to be ill, to sacking countless barristers and Gordon's trousers even being misplaced one day - left His Honour Judge Mark Lucraft KC exasperated on many occasions.
At one point he said two teenagers, who had been in his court the previous week, were 'rather better behaved' than Marten, adding: 'And they pleaded guilty to murder.'
Over the last 18 months I've sat through Marten and Gordon's two criminal trials. The first, which started in January 2024, resulted in the pair being found guilty of concealing the birth of their baby, Victoria, of perverting the course of justice and child cruelty.
Collection
[
|
...
]