The aristocrat who fell from high society to become a convicted baby killer

0:02Hi, I'm Charlie Duffield and welcome back to The Standard Podcast. If you're new here, hit follow and give us a rating. For all the latest news, head to standard.co.uk. Coming up later in the show, why a new generation of Gen Z Londoners have fallen for Carrie Bradshaw's style. She's obsessed with designer and flamboyance and she will always choose aesthetics over comfort, be that wearing a tutu, heels or a tiny purse running around the city. But first, she was born into a world of incredible privilege but gave it all up for a sordid life on the run Now she faces many years in jail If you're not familiar with the name Constance Martin or her partner, the convicted rapist Mark Gordon you won't know about the jaw-dropping trial that has just concluded or their daughter Victoria, who never lived to see her second birthday The pair led authorities on a nationwide manhunt in early 2023, culminating in the discovery of their newborn baby, who was found dead at just a few days old.

1:13Here's a clip from the Crown Prosecution Service.

1:31Where's your child, madam? Where is the child, please? Daddy bear. Look at me. Take away from him. Constance, how about it? Whoever you are. All right, where's your child? And it was only yesterday at the Old Bailey that Martin and Gordon were convicted by a jury of gross negligence and manslaughter, bringing an epic two-and-a-half-year legal battle to a close. Joining us now is the Standards Court's correspondent, Tristan Kirk. Tristan, who is Constance Martin? Constance Martin is an aristocrat, comes from a very wealthy family, who became National News in early 2023, when she and her partner, Mark Gordon, went on the run from authorities.

2:15She'd just given birth to her baby daughter, Victoria, and they were making a bid to stay out of the hands of social services, believing that their child was about to be taken away from them. It was a national manhunt. It was international news. And utterly tragically, the story ended with baby Victoria dying, her body being found in a disused shed around two months after they went missing. And the couple already had several children at the time, didn't they? The background to this story is a complicated history in the family courts. Constance Martin and Mark Gordon got together around about a decade ago, and they actually had five children, baby Victoria being the fifth.

3:04But prior to them going on the run and this story coming into the public consciousness, all four of their other children had been taken away by the courts themselves and they had been put up for adoption. The reason behind that was because of serious safety concerns about those children and their welfare. So Constance concealed the pregnancy of her fifth child. Can you tell me more about the moment when police discovered this newborn baby? So it's believed that baby Victoria was born in a rented cottage in Northumberland in December 2022, at a time when nobody, including Martin and Gordon's own families, knew that she was even pregnant, let alone about to give birth.

3:51They had hatched a plan to keep the baby secret from the authorities, the NHS, social services. They then went on an elaborate journey around the country, basically attempting to stay for a short period of time in different counties, believing that would stop social services from becoming aware of their existence and then taking any action they saw fit. And so they started taking cars and taxis around the country. The moment that the police became aware that there was a baby at all was when one of the cars that the couple bought caught fire on the side of the motorway. And naturally, they had to call for assistance.

4:37Instead of staying at the scene, Martin, Gordon and the newborn baby decided to hot-foot it over the barrier into the field, leaving behind the burning car lots and lots of their possessions, baby clothes, blankets, Constance Martin's passport. But critically, they also left behind in the car the remnants of the placenta. And that was the first indication to the police that the couple were not only disappearing and trying to stay away from the authorities, but they were now in possession of a newborn baby girl. And so what happens next? This is the point where everybody will probably remember this case.

5:20Constance Martin, an aristocrat from a family with close ties to the royal family who had lived a life of extreme luxury in her youth. And she was together with Mark Gordon, her partner, and it emerged, this is early 2023, that he is a violent convicted rapist. There was an enormous amount of media coverage at this stage, what can be classed as a manhunt. Metropolitan Police were leading this. But there were forces around the country looking for them, and bits of CCTV started to emerge. There were daily updates and press conferences. Martin and Gordon started to travel around the country, and in the end, they ended up down on the edge of the South Downs.

6:07And this was where they decided to go and camp on the South Downs in a tent with their newborn baby. This was January 2023. It was in the middle of winter. It was chopping it down with rain and it was very, very cold. And so at that stage, when Martin and Gordon decided in their bid to escape the publicity, the manhunt and stay away from the authorities to go and camp on the South Downs to live in the wild, that was an incredibly fateful decision. And within a few days, it's believed that baby Victoria died. So they were arrested at the end of February 2023. Tell me more about their conduct in court.

6:50Eventually the police were able to trace Victoria to a disused shed on the outskirts of Brighton. The shoe was already dead and had been for some time and her body had been left behind in a little bag for life covered in rubbish, essentially abandoned. In the first trial that they faced, which was in the early parts of last year, they were convicted of three charges, perverting the course of justice, preventing the burial, and child cruelty. But the jury in that case were undecided on the charge of gross negligence manslaughter, and that set up the second trial, which concluded this week. The defendants in both of those trials took an extremely destructive approach.

7:39They came in and out of the dock whenever they felt like it. They complained vociferously about various ailments. They were obstructive and they were hostile towards the security guards. Constance Martin at times was incredibly rude to the judge overseeing a trial. Mark Gordon ended up in the end representing himself in court. and I think argumentative rather undersells his behaviour. At one stage, the judge had agreed that his previous convictions could be entered into the trial and put before the jury, and Mark Gordon began an argument that those convictions weren't true, even though there were court records to say that they existed.

8:26Towards the end of the second trial, I would describe the defendants as attempting to take a wrecking ball to the judicial process. In the end, we reached a conclusion and the jury convicted on the manslaughter charge, but not without a significant amount of struggles along the way. Finally, what do you think are the takeaways from this case? It's not the right of a parent to do whatever they want to do because mum knows best, essentially. And obviously, in this case, we have the tragic outcome of Victoria's death at just days old, really. One of the most vivid examples I think I've ever come across of this idea of parental responsibility being the overarching idea that the parent knows exactly what their child needs.

9:13There is a limit to that. And in this case, it went way beyond where that limit is. I think Constance Martin and Mark Gordon were just fuelled by this sort of warped idea that they were the only people who knew best. And anybody from authority, from social services all the way up to the Old Bailey judge, did not know as much as they did. It's sort of this egocentric trip that they know best and everybody else is in the wrong. Clearly that's not right. Let's go to a break. coming up in part two. Find out what keeps women coming back to Carrie Bradshaw's iconic looks from Sex and the City. We'll see you back here in just a moment.

10:01Welcome back. Now whatever you think of the Sex and the City spin-off series, named and just like that, the original comedy which first aired in 1998, documenting the lives and loves of four women in New York City remains a cultural touchpoint. Whether you identify as Miranda, Carrie, Samantha or Charlotte, it has always been Carrie's noughties on-screen style that has proved the most popular. And the character's legacy as a fashion icon still informs the way that young women are dressing today. To find out more, I spoke to the writer Charlotte Ambrose who has been inspired herself by Carrie's looks.

10:42Charlotte, why do you think there has been this renewed interest in Carrie Bradshaw's style? I think people in my generation particularly, one of the reasons could be that there was a relaunch of the show called And Just Like That. Many people my age, I'm 24, hadn't seen the show because it originally aired over 20 years ago. So seeing that relaunch has definitely had an impact. But actually, I think Carrie, she offers this move away from fast fashion and a bigger interest in vintage and curating your own sense of personal style with unique pieces. For example, statement bags and shoes, which is quite different from buying into micro trends like Le Boo Boo's or polka dots.

11:19Instead, Carrie has very key pieces like, for example, a studded belt. And also there's a kind of renewed interest anyway in noughties and 2000s fashion. So she just lends to that. So how would you describe Carrie's style? I describe Carrie's style as bold, ambitious, fun and original. So she's a character who really has an identity that's shown through style. much like someone like Rachel from Friends, but I'd say that Carrie's style has a lot more of a rich identity. What are some of Carrie's most iconic looks and some of your favourite pieces? So my number one favourite piece that's on the top of my wishlist is the purple sequined Fendi baguette bag.

11:57It'll go from about£4 ,000 to£9 ,000, so I'm not close to getting it yet, but I'll say. I also love her newspaper dress. That's the John Galliano Dior Fall Winter 2003 piece. I like the naked dress as well, although I wouldn't wear it myself. I think it's quite iconic. She wears it for the shoot when she gets put on the side of the bus for her column and also to her first date with Mr. Big. And I think the most iconic everyday look that particularly is being kind of recreated at the moment is a picture of Carrie. She's on the phone and she's wearing a white vest with a pink sequined skirt and people are trying to recreate that endlessly online.

12:35How has Carrie's style influenced your own dressing? Can you tell us what you're wearing today? What I'm wearing today is I'm wearing this kind of silk pleated black skirt from Hobbs. I got it secondhand at the charity shop. I'm a big charity shopper and vintage shopper. I'm just wearing Dr. Martin loafers and just a black vest top but the skirt actually I bought it too large but because I liked it so much and it was£10, I got it tailored. I wouldn't necessarily say this is very Carrie inspired, but I guess the kind of silk pleated skirt is quite interesting and different. Apart from that, I think I started wearing heels more, which is something I did avoid.

13:10When I was younger, actually, my mum had an amazing collection of heels from beautiful designers like René K. Aver or Pradas, and she would buy them all on eBay secondhand. So that was kind of my way into buying designer or more flamboyant clothes, but for a very affordable way to suit my budget. So I've kind of used that to find more interesting heels. But I did get some Rixo heels brand new. They were£245, which was quite painful, but I really like them and I wear them regularly. I've also started wearing more flamboyant clothes like silk scarves or sequined skirts. I've not yet got to the tutu.

13:44I'd like to. I mean, there's an influencer I love called Abigail Masters and she wears tutus all the time. And I think it's amazing, but I'm not brave enough yet for that. Gen Z are said to be addicted to fast fashion. Why do you think this is and are there any lessons to be learned from the way Carrie dresses? I think the first thing about fast fashion is that it's accessible and quick and fun and people are able to buy into a trend and it's cheap. So obviously you've got to have the ethical consideration of the fact that often fast fashion uses child labour and similarly it's really bad for the environment as is kind of fashion production in general.

14:19You know, you could see a trend like Chinese slippers or something like a micro short and buy it for less than£10 and have it within two weeks. I also think that fast fashion is kind of reflective of internet culture. You know, we see things, they go viral, they become a moment for a few weeks. I think with Carrie, she is someone who, like I said before, she buys into having a really curated sense of style because there's been a lot of discourse online in that when people buy into trends, they're never actually able to make their own sense of style because you're not informing the way you dress by the way you live or the things that you need or re-wearing one piece and restyling it.

14:58So we can take that from Carrie and learn how to wear something that's a bit interesting and a bit different and make it part of your identity, your kind of like staple wardrobe, your uniform, be that wearing tutus, Manola Blonics or maybe even an amazing handbag. finally do you have anything else to add? I think something that's quite funny is that there's a specific episode in which Carrie is speaking to her boyfriend at the time Berger and he writes a novel and in it he speaks about a woman in New York wearing a scrunchie and Carrie makes a massive deal saying no woman in New York would ever wear a scrunchie that's so ridiculous and it goes on and on and on and I think that's just quite funny when you think about relating Carrie's fashion to now because so many people in Gen Z are obsessed with scrunchies.

15:44You've got good squish, dams and manna do them. They're kind of all over the place. So it's funny how instead now that's the only thing I'd say we're not going to take from Carrie because Gen Z are obsessed with scrunchies. I'm even wearing one myself today. Unfortunately, not a very fashionable one, just a little velvet one, but that's the one thing where my heart slightly broke over Carrie. And that's The Standard. For all the latest news, head to standard.co.uk. If you'd like to get in touch, please do drop us a line at podcasts at standard.co.uk. We'll be back here tomorrow at 4pm. We'll see you then.