What happened to Constance Marten's children? Aristocrat carried baby in Lidl bag, bought petrol to cremate her after she died

Disclaimer: This article contains graphic descriptions of child death. Reader's discretion is advised.

An aristocrat, Constance Marten, carried her fifth born in a Lidl bag and subsequently purchased petrol to cremate the infant after her unfortunate demise, BBC reports.

The couple, Constance, 36, and her boyfriend, Mark Gordon, 48, have allegedly caused the death of their fifthborn, Victoria. As reported by Old Bailey court, this unfortunate incident occurred while both avoided authorities by hiding and camping in the winter cold. The "negligence" by the couple was reported between January 4, 2023 and February 27, 2023.

During this time, it is claimed that they lacked adequate clothing and warmth and had very little food available. However, the newborn Victoria was allegedly carried around in Lidl's "bag of life" in her last days.

A representative image of a Lidl in which Marten kept her fifth born, Victoria (Image via Getty)

As per The Standard, the couple went missing in December 2023, and allegedly the childbirth was after December 28, 2022. They were hiding the baby because previously they had lost custody of their four other children, a London court heard Thursday, January 25, 2024.

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What happened to Constance Marten's children?

Constance Marten is an aristocrat, and her father had worked as a page to the late Queen Elizabeth II. In 2016, Marten met her boyfriend, Gordon, who is British. He was jailed in the 1980s in Florida after allegedly r*ping a neighbor, and in 2010, was deported from the United Kingdom, as reported by the Daily Beast.

The couple had four children together, who were taken into custody by the authorities due to the negligent behavior of the parent. In 2022, when Marten got pregnant, she hid because she knew her fifth baby was to be taken to, as stated by prosecutor Tom Little KC in a London court hearing on January 25, 2024.

The fifth born, Victoria, allegedly died three days after her birth due to the negligence of the couple. However, the couple got arrested in February 2023, when Met police found the placenta wrapped in a towel from the car in which the couple was driving.

The Old Bailey court heard that Constance Marten and Gordon were misleading and differing to police about the fifth baby. Later, on March 1, 2023, investigation officers found Victoria was found on an allotment in Brighton.

A representative image of police continuing search for Victoria (Image via Getty)

As reported by the Old Bailey court, Constance Marten told the police her daughter died in her sleep. Also, she kept her body because she wanted to get a postmortem examination. She said,

"I don't know if you found, there's a bottle of petroleum in the bag because I debated whether to cremate her myself, get rid of the evidence, but I decided to keep her because I knew at some point in the future I was going to be asked about it, but I just didn't know what to do"

According to The Mirror, Mark Gordon told the police he tried saving the child by giving CPR. He added,

"I was trying to breathe into the baby, trying to get her back to resuscitate, and it was the most harrowing experience to see my child like that, and it was one of the worst things that I ever saw in my life."

Prosecutor Tom Little KC alleges that Constance Marten and Gordon kept the baby in a Lidl bag before disposing of her. As BBC, he said,

"That baby never stood a chance. After the baby had died, the defendants did not hand themselves in but instead remained off-grid and tried to hide, leaving the body of their dead baby in a shopping bag covered in rubbish, as if she was refused, and left in a disused unlocked shed."

Constance Marten and Mark Gordon were charged with manslaughter, concealment of the birth, causing or allowing her death, and perverting the course of justice by hiding the body, according to The Daily Beast.

However, the couple denied all charges, has been in custody since February 2023, and had a trial on January 25, 2024. The subsequent trial is expected to go until March 8, 2024.