Overview

• A jury convicted both defendants of gross negligence manslaughter after a retrial in July 2025, following earlier convictions for child cruelty, concealing a birth and perverting the course of justice.
• Judge Mark Lucraft KC also deemed Mark Gordon dangerous and imposed an additional four years on extended licence after release.
• During sentencing, the judge repeatedly admonished the pair for disruptive behavior in the dock, citing a complete lack of respect for the court.
• The couple went on the run in January 2023 after their car was found burned out near Bolton with a placenta inside; weeks later police found Victoria's body in a Lidl bag in a disused shed near Brighton.
• Although decomposition prevented a definitive forensic cause, the court accepted that the newborn succumbed to cold stress in a flimsy tent, and Marten has begun steps to appeal her manslaughter conviction.