Baby killer aristocrat Constance Martin moans she ‘did not get sufficient state assist’ in a shameless bid to dodge blame

An aristocrat jailed for killing her baby made a shameless bid to dodge blame yesterday telling a review of her case that she didn’t get enough support.

Constance Marten, 38, accused social workers of ‘using the powers of the state coercively’ to take her four children into care, forcing her to go on the run with her fifth baby Victoria, who died in a freezing cold tent.

The millionaire heiress and her 51-year-old rapist boyfriend Mark Gordon were jailed for 14 years last year for causing or allowing the death of their baby from hypothermia after they went camping in the middle of winter to prevent the infant being taken into care.

Now Marten has spoken out behind bars to a national safeguarding panel, claiming she was offered ‘ultimatums, rather than true assistance’, suggesting she could have changed course had she received more backing from social workers.

In a review into the extraordinary case, which sparked a £1.2million manhunt in January 2023, the unrepentant mother told a child safeguarding review panel that ‘people can be supported and can change, which should result in children being returned and supported’.

Despite the couple spurning every offer of help and purposefully hiding successive pregnancies from authorities, Marten insisted consideration should have been given to how ’emotionally challenging’ it was for her to have four children taken into care for their own safety.

Her complaints, which have shaped the findings of the review resulting in national recommendations about protecting unborn children, contradict the conclusion of a trial judge that the couple had no one but themselves to blame for their daughter’s death.

Scotland Yard launched a nationwide manhunt for the pair after discovering a placenta in their car when it exploded on a motorway in Greater Manchester on January 5, 2023.

Constance Marten , 38, jailed for killing her baby, made a shameless bid to dodge blame yesterday telling a review of her case that she didn’t get enough support

More than 100 officers pursued the couple as they fled in taxis, travelling hundreds of miles traversing the country from Bolton to Liverpool, Harwich in Essex, then on to East London before finally resorting to camping on the South Downs in the freezing cold where Victoria died.

In a prison interview, Marten was asked how contact with child safeguarding agencies made her feel.

Marten replied: ‘I was given ultimatums, rather than true assistance. It felt like they were using the powers of the state coercively rather than constructively.

‘It felt, in a way, that there was a flow chart which would ultimately result in the removal of my children, step by step.

‘My mistrust of social services is not an innate feature of my personality, it developed due to my dealings with them.’

Family court proceedings revealed authorities bent over backwards to accommodate the couple who frequently failed to attend contact hearings with their children, presented false information and accused witnesses of lying.

Family court Judge Madeleine Reardon said: ‘They see external agencies and third parties as posing a challenge to their relationship, and view all offers of support as hostile.’

But Marten painted a very different picture: ‘People can be supported and can change which should result in children being returned and supported.

The millionaire heiress and her 51-year-old rapist boyfriend Mark Gordon (pictured) were jailed for 14 years last year for causing or allowing the death of their baby from hypothermia after they went camping in the middle of winter to prevent the infant being taken into care

‘Attending a contact centre is one of the most painful experiences for a parent to endure. However, there was no support when leaving the contact centre despite the obvious distress that this would cause the parents.

‘Social workers did not seem to appreciate that this, as well as being distressing for the children, was very emotionally challenging for the parent.’

In written submissions from her cell, Marten also hit out at hospitals for alerting social services when women don’t inform them of their pregnancy ahead of birth.

‘I knew that the hospital would flag me up and contact services who wanted to remove my children’, Marten said.

Marten also suggested the Government introduce an ‘independent and confidential service to assist parents that is separate from the local authority’.

Her recommendations informed the panel’s conclusion that better engagement and support should be provided for parents when a child is removed.

Chair Sir David Holmes said: ‘A key lesson from baby Victoria’s story is clear: to protect vulnerable babies better, we must support their parents too.

‘That may be hard to hear and hard to understand, but it is essential if we are to stop cycles of harm from repeating.’

More than 100 officers pursued the couple as they fled in taxis, travelling hundreds of miles across the country from Bolton to Liverpool, then to Harwich in Essex, and on to east London

Marten caught on CCTV while she was on the run with their baby  

The panel also recommended the Government strengthen registration requirements for sex offenders, forcing criminals to declare if their partner is pregnant.

Gordon was on the Sex Offenders Register after being jailed for 40 years in America where he raped a woman at knifepoint at the age of 14.

When he was deported back to the UK, he was not required to share details about his new partner or Marten’s pregnancy.

The review said there were ‘missed opportunities’ to raise child safeguarding concerns after Gordon assaulted police in hospital when Marten gave birth to their first child and during a subsequent pregnancy when Gordon attacked Marten throwing her out of the window of their flat shattering her spleen.

But the panel concluded: ‘Responsibility for Victoria’s tragic death lies solely with her parents and was the result of their criminal actions.’