Mark Gordon, the 51-year-old partner of aristocrat Constance Marten who was found guilty of gross negligence manslaughter at the Old Bailey on Monday, had been deported to Britain after serving 20 years in a US prison for rape committed when he was just 14.
Gordon attacked a 30-year-old single mother in Miami in 1989, breaking into her home through a bathroom window whilst armed with a knife and hedge clippers. The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the Daily Mail that the sentencing judge described Gordon as “the most dangerous individual he’d ever seen in his time on the bench.”
The revelation comes as Gordon and Marten, 38, face sentencing on 15 September for the death of their baby daughter Victoria, who died in a tent on the South Downs in January 2023. More than 1,000 Metropolitan Police officers were involved in a high-profile search before the infant’s body was discovered in a Lidl bag inside an allotment shed near Brighton.
Attack Details Emerge
Gordon had moved from Birmingham to New York with his mother, Sylvia Satchell, and sister when he was 11 years old. Satchell, a Windrush-era nurse who arrived in Britain from Jamaica, had secured a visa to the United States and later purchased a small house in Miami.
My mother worked really hard to make a better life,” Gordon’s older sister Karen Satchell told reporters. “She was granted residence and everything was good and we thought we were going to have a great life there. Then the dream turned into a nightmare.”
The victim recounted the terrifying ordeal to the Mail, describing how her dog’s barking woke her in the night. “I go over to my bedroom door and stepped out and he was just right there in the living room. He was holding a knife and a big pair of hedge clippers. I started to yell and he said, ‘Don’t scream or I’ll kill your kids’.”
Gordon, dressed entirely in black with gloves and a stocking over his face, held the woman against her will for four and a half hours. She was forced to perform sexual acts whilst he threatened her with the knife.
Pattern of Violence
The Miami assault was not an isolated incident. Within a month of the rape, Gordon entered another property and committed aggravated battery. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison but was deported to Britain in 2010 after serving 20 years, despite maintaining his innocence throughout.
Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford of Scotland Yard said on Monday: “Today, the justice we have long fought for has finally been served for baby Victoria. The selfish actions of Mark Gordon and Constance Marten resulted in the death of a newborn baby who should have had the rest of her life ahead of her.”
Gordon’s violent behaviour continued after his return to Britain. In 2017, he was convicted of assaulting two female police officers at a maternity unit in Wales where Marten had given birth to their first child under a false identity.
Detective Sergeant Delma Jones testified at the Old Bailey that Gordon had given the name “James Amer” with a birth date of “31 April 1987” when questioned at West Wales General Hospital. Upon realising April has only 30 days, officers attempted to restrain him.
He started rocking backwards and forwards in a chair and acted confused muttering under his breath several times,” DS Jones told the court. “He then shot up from his seat. He starts pacing backwards and forwards. He was clenching his fists and his behaviour completely changed.”
Domestic Violence Allegations
The court heard that Gordon was also suspected of domestic violence in 2019 which left Marten with a shattered spleen. Gordon allegedly refused to allow paramedics into their London flat to treat her despite her being 14 weeks pregnant.
Marten spent eight days in hospital and then attempted to discharge herself with Gordon’s support, potentially risking her life and that of her unborn child. It was following this incident that family court decided the couple’s four other children should be taken into care.
Prosecutor Tom Little KC told jurors: “The prosecution say that this was a wholly avoidable death. It was entirely preventable and happened as a result of the entirely selfish desire of the two defendants to keep their baby.”
Life on the Run
When Marten became pregnant for a fifth time, she kept it secret, giving birth in a hired holiday cottage on Christmas Eve 2022. The couple then embarked on a 54-day journey across England, sleeping rough in freezing conditions.
Police launched a nationwide manhunt after their car burst into flames on the M61 near Bolton on 5 January 2023. A placenta found in the vehicle alerted authorities that Marten had recently given birth.
The defendants spent hundreds of pounds on taxis, travelling from the North West to Harwich in Essex, East Ham in London and on to Newhaven. CCTV footage captured them scavenging in bins for food despite Marten having received thousands of pounds from a trust fund and £19,000 in her bank account.
Gordon and Marten were eventually arrested in Brighton on 27 February 2023 after a tip-off from a member of the public. When questioned about the baby’s whereabouts, Gordon declared: “What’s the big deal?”
Tragic Discovery
Victoria’s badly decomposed body was discovered two days later, wrapped in a pink sheet and hidden beneath dirt and rubbish inside the Lidl bag. The prosecution said she likely died from hypothermia in the cold and damp conditions or was smothered whilst co-sleeping.
In a police interview, Marten said: “I had her in my jacket and I hadn’t slept properly in quite a few days and erm, I fell asleep holding her sitting up and she, when I woke up, she wasn’t alive.
Jurors were told Marten had been warned by social workers about the risk of falling asleep with a baby lying on her and that a tent was unsuitable accommodation for an infant.
Detective Chief Inspector Joanna Yorke, who led the homicide investigation, said: “We know today’s verdict won’t bring Victoria back, but I am pleased our investigation has resulted in the couple who caused her death finally being brought to justice.
Both defendants gave evidence in their retrial but cut short their testimony, with Marten describing the prosecution as “heartless” and “diabolical”. During his evidence, Gordon blamed the police manhunt for the baby’s death, claiming Victoria would still be alive had officers not pursued them.
The couple had previously been convicted of perverting the course of justice and concealing the birth of a child at their first trial in 2024, though jurors failed to reach a verdict on the manslaughter charge at that time.
Detective Superintendent Basford added: “Victoria’s death was completely avoidable. The couple had plenty of opportunities to do the right thing and come forward to ask for help.”
Follow for more updates on Britannia Daily
