Constance Marten, the 38-year-old British aristocrat at the center of a harrowing and widely publicized criminal case, is now seeking permission to appeal her conviction for the gross negligence manslaughter of her baby daughter, Victoria. The Court of Appeal confirmed this week that it has received Marten’s application, marking the latest twist in a saga that has gripped the nation and sparked heated debate over parental rights, the criminal justice system, and the tragic consequences of life on the run.
Marten and her partner, Mark Gordon, 51, were found guilty at the Old Bailey in July 2025 after a retrial that the judge described as being subject to deliberate sabotage and manipulation by the defendants. The couple, who are due to be sentenced on September 15, 2025, have remained in custody since their convictions. According to the BBC, Marten’s legal team submitted the appeal on August 19, 2025, seeking to overturn the manslaughter verdict that followed months of courtroom drama and two protracted trials.
The case began in December 2022, when Marten gave birth to Victoria in secret. Fearing that social services would remove the newborn from their care—as had happened with their four other children—the couple went off-grid, living rough in freezing temperatures across southern England. For nearly two months, they evaded authorities, sleeping in a flimsy tent in cold, damp, and windy conditions, and moving frequently to avoid detection. They used face coverings and aliases, and at times, evidence suggests they even burned out their car near Bolton to cover their tracks. Police only became aware of the birth after discovering a placenta in the burnt vehicle, which triggered a nationwide manhunt.
Despite the couple’s efforts, Marten and Gordon were eventually arrested in Brighton at 9:35 p.m. on February 27, 2023. The arrest followed a seven-week search that had the public and media transfixed. However, Victoria was not with them at the time of their capture. For two more days, police and volunteers scoured the areas where the couple had been seen, before finally discovering the decomposed body of baby Victoria in a shopping bag, hidden in an allotment shed in the Hollingbury area of Brighton on March 1, 2023.
Pathologists were unable to determine the exact cause of Victoria’s death due to the advanced state of decomposition. Prosecutors argued that the most likely causes were hypothermia or accidental smothering while co-sleeping in the cramped, inadequate tent. The prosecution maintained that the couple’s decision to live off-grid, exposing their newborn to harsh winter elements, amounted to gross negligence. The defense, meanwhile, insisted the death was a tragic accident, with Marten testifying that she fell asleep while holding her baby and awoke to find Victoria unresponsive.
During the first trial in 2024, Marten and Gordon were convicted of perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child, and child cruelty. Jurors were unable to reach a verdict on the manslaughter charge, prompting the Crown Prosecution Service to seek a retrial. The retrial, held in 2025, saw the couple found unanimously guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence after more than 14 hours of jury deliberation. The judge accused Marten and Gordon of attempting to sabotage and manipulate the proceedings—an accusation that underscored the tense and unpredictable atmosphere that surrounded the trial.
Adding another layer of complexity to the case, Marten’s legal team is basing her appeal on claims that the jury was prejudiced after she inadvertently revealed that Gordon was a convicted rapist during the trial. According to The Mail, her lawyers argue that the trial judge failed to warn the jury quickly enough to disregard Marten’s statement, which nearly caused the retrial to collapse. Gordon, for his part, has also vowed to appeal, describing the verdict as “faulty” and “unlawful” in the moments after his conviction.
The couple’s history is marked by violence and instability. Gordon’s criminal past includes a 1989 conviction in Florida for armed kidnapping and rape, for which he served 22 years in a U.S. prison. He was released and deported to the UK, where he was later convicted in 2017 of assaulting two female police officers at a maternity unit. Legal arguments during the trial revealed that Gordon was also suspected of a 2019 domestic violence incident that left Marten with a shattered spleen while she was 14 weeks pregnant. Following these episodes, the family court ordered the couple’s four other children to be taken into care and put up for adoption, a decision that reportedly fueled their flight from authorities with Victoria.
During their time on the run, Marten and Gordon relied on cash, slept outdoors, and avoided digital footprints. The prosecution argued that their actions were not only reckless but also deliberately obstructive, as they refused to disclose Victoria’s whereabouts even after their arrest. The judge at the Old Bailey noted that both Marten and Gordon refused to stand for the verdict, with Marten shaking her head and sighing as the guilty verdict was read.
Gordon’s legal troubles did not end with the manslaughter conviction. He was also charged with failing to comply with sex offender notification requirements while living in the tent, but the Crown Prosecution Service ultimately decided not to pursue this charge further after the more serious convictions were secured. During a recent court appearance, Gordon, who had dismissed more than a dozen barristers during the proceedings, told the court, “I am not up to the challenge of representing myself. I do not know the law. It is too much pressure for me.” He has requested a transcript of the four-month trial to prepare his own appeal.
Marten’s previous attempt to appeal her child cruelty conviction was rejected by the Court of Appeal in February 2025. The couple’s sentencing at the Old Bailey on September 15 is expected to draw significant public and media attention, with both facing the prospect of lengthy prison terms.
This case has raised difficult questions about the balance between parental rights, state intervention, and the limits of personal responsibility in the face of adversity. The tragic death of baby Victoria, compounded by the couple’s troubled past and their desperate attempts to evade authorities, continues to haunt all those involved. As the appeal process unfolds, the nation will be watching to see whether justice, in all its complexity, is ultimately served.
