Daily Mail reporter Jack Hardy described the courtroom ‘antics’ of Constance Marten, 38, and Mark Gordon, 51, during their sentencing that ‘irritated’ Judge Mark Lucraft.
Having been found guilty on July 14, 2025, of the gross negligence manslaughter of their baby daughter Victoria, the couple were each sentenced to 14 years in prison at the Old Bailey yesterday.
Speaking on an exclusive episode of the Mail’s The Trial podcast, Hardy, who had been in court for the sentencing, told host Caroline Cheetham about the couple’s repeated passing of notes to each other, which led the judge to criticise their ‘complete lack of respect’.
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During their retrial, Gordon had mostly represented himself, with Hardy remembering his ‘long and rambling’ speeches to the court. For the sentencing, Gordon was represented by Philippa McAtasney KC, while Marten had Tom Godfrey KC.
Hardy said: ‘Gordon had finally instructed a barrister to represent him… but that didn’t stop some antics in court.
‘Unfortunately, with these two, things never go smoothly. They were seen passing notes quite a lot during the course of the hearing, which led the judge to intervene on some occasions because he was so irritated by it.
‘Right at the start, the barrister representing Mark Gordon had asked for a bit more time to explain to him the findings of the psychiatric report.
‘The judge actually interrupted the barrister and said: ‘Mr Gordon seems more interested in passing notes than what you’re actually saying.’
Daily Mail reporter Jack Hardy described the courtroom ‘antics’ of Constance Marten , 38, and Mark Gordon, 51, during their sentencing that ‘irritated’ Judge Mark Lucraft (pictured)
Having been found guilty on July 14, 2025, of the gross negligence manslaughter of their baby daughter Victoria, the couple were each sentenced to 14 years in prison at the Old Bailey yesterday
To hear a detailed account of Marten and Gordon’s courtroom ‘antics’, subscribe to The Crime Desk today for unlimited access to The Mail’s award-winning Trial Plus series. Join here
‘A few minutes later, Marten was seen passing a note to the back of the court.
‘The judge asked Marten’s barrister: ‘Mr Godfrey, the defendants appear to be sharing notes at the back of the court. Can they stop that? It shows a complete lack of respect, not only for me, but for you.’
‘But, a few minutes later, the note passing had picked up again and the dock officer actually got in the middle of it and confiscated Marten’s pen.
‘Marten said: ‘I am entitled to a pen. I literally need one.’
‘The judge… then basically threatened to continue the sentencing in the absence of the defendants, if they didn’t cut it out.
‘Just when we thought it had all finished, Marten tried to pass another note. This time, the dock officer managed to clear this one off the line, so to speak.
‘He jumped in to snatch the note out of her hand, which caused a lot of anger from Constance Marten.
‘Before we came back from lunch, there was another confrontation, when Gordon stood up in the dock to try to talk to Marten. The dock officer had to yell at him to sit down.
Millionaire heiress Marten (pictured in April 2012) and Gordon sparked a £1.2million national manhunt after disappearing with their baby Victoria, camping in the freezing cold and causing the infant’s death from hypothermia
Marten caught on CCTV while she was on the run with their baby
‘All of this just gives you a flavour of the truculence that has defined so much of these two trials – it was on full display when they were sentenced.’
Reports emerged on Monday that Marten is already planning for her release, boasting to a probation officer that she will regain access to her £2.4million family trust fund at the age of 40 and will be able to withdraw cash from another fund.
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Host Cheetham, who has covered the case in its entirety, said she felt the judge had finally ‘run out of patience’ with the couple, noting he ‘cracked down’ on their disruptions more forcefully than during the trials.
She told Hardy: ‘I was watching it on the link, and I got the sense the judge had run out of patience.
‘He’s not said an awful lot to them about their antics so far… in the interests of a fair trial.
‘Every single time they tried to disrupt, whether that was with a pen or passing a note… he cracked down on it.
‘He just seemed that he had really run out of patience.’
To hear a detailed account of Marten and Gordon’s courtroom ‘antics’, subscribe to The Crime Desk today for unlimited access to The Mail’s award-winning Trial Plus series.
