Constance Marten and Mark Gordon jailed for 14 years each after killing their newborn daughter
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon have been jailed for a total of 28 years after they were convicted of killing their baby.
Marten, 38, who is from a wealthy family, and her partner Gordon, 51, were each handed sentences of 14 years.
They went on the run with their newborn daughter Victoria to get away from social services after their four other children were taken into care.
Victoria's body was found with rubbish inside a Lidl shopping bag in the corner of an allotment in Brighton on 1 March 2023.
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The pair had been the subject of a nationwide manhunt for 54 days.
Judge Mark Lucraft told the pair at the Old Bailey on Monday that "neither of you gave much or any thought to the care or welfare of your baby".
"Your focus was on yourselves," he said, adding: "There has been no genuine expression of remorse from either of you.
"Whilst there have been expressions of sorrow about the death throughout, you've adopted the stance of seeking to blame everyone else other than yourselves for what happened."
They were both convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence following a second trial at the Old Bailey.
Read more:
Why did Constance Marten and Mark Gordon go on the run?
How the runaway couple killed their baby
They had previously been found guilty of perverting the course of justice, concealing the birth of a child, and child cruelty after an Old Bailey trial lasting almost five months.
A second trial was ordered after the first jury failed to reach a verdict on the manslaughter charges.
Marten is now seeking permission to appeal against her conviction for manslaughter. A previous application to appeal her conviction of cruelty to a child was rejected in February this year.
Both trials were hampered by disruption and delays, taking up more than 33 weeks of court time, which at an estimated £30,000 per defendant a day could have cost in the region of £10m.
A search for Marten and Gordon was launched after a placenta was found in the couple's burnt-out car on a motorway in Bolton in January 2023.
Marten said they went on the run so their fifth child would not be removed from them after her other children were "stolen by the state".
The couple spent vast sums of cash from her family trust fund on taxi journeys as they travelled from Bolton, to Liverpool, to Harwich in Essex, to London and then to Newhaven on the south coast.
Prosecutors said the baby was inadequately clothed in a babygrow and that Marten had got wet as she carried the infant underneath her coat, alleging Victoria died from hypothermia or was smothered while co-sleeping.
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