Constance Marten, an erstwhile aristocrat, has found herself in hot soup with the law. Her case with the legal authority was a sensational topic in the news. People couldn’t sympathise with her because she was charged with the neglect and subsequent death of her daughter, Victoria. To make matters worse, she went into hiding with her boyfriend when the police were looking for her. What happened to baby Victoria? What role did Constance play? Find out below.
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Constance Marten is a British woman who once lived in Nigeria. She comes from a wealthy and aristocratic family that has ties with the British Royal family. She is famous for running away with her boyfriend, Mark, and their baby. A manhunt was launched for Constance and Mark, which lasted for seven weeks. They were arrested while on the run and promptly charged to court. Unfortunately, the police couldn’t find their daughter.
Constance was raised in Dorset on a multimillion-dollar property, a testament to her family’s wealth. Her woes started when she visited Nigeria in her teenage years and joined T.B. Joshua’s church in Lagos. An ex-British military officer who was a former member of the church said Constance confessed to being humiliated by TB. Constance told him she and other white members went through humiliating experiences in the church.
According to the ex-soldier, Constance alleged that she had to eat TB’s leftover food for not focusing enough in church. Failure to do so led to more dire consequences. In addition, she was exiled from interacting with other girls in the dorm. This is a punishment given to members who talked about how they lived before joining the church.
The former soldier, called Matthew, also said Constance lamented about the horrible things she went through in that period to him. Matthew added that Constance contacted him at a time when she was traumatised and confused about her decade-long trauma.
T.B. Joshua was alleged to have groomed Constance along with several teens in Nigeria. T.B. was the late pastor of a synagogue church in Nigeria. He has been accused many times of running a sect and grooming teens and vulnerable church members. Constance was among the groomed teens and spent six months in T.B.’s compound with other children.
There were mixed reactions when people learned Constance stayed in T.B.’s compound as a teen. Some said over 45 teen girls were forced to live in a dorm. It was a place that was overseen by armed men, and the girls were starved.
Additionally, the girls were forced to read bibles, even when they were supposed to be sleeping. What’s more, they had to respect the leader by calling him ‘daddy.’ A former resident of the dorm substantiated the allegations by confirming that the place was traumatising. Another said that they forced the girls living in the dorm to do intense, energy-consuming jobs.
Constance Marten and Mark, who began dating in 2015, went missing. What alerted the authorities to their disappearance was the discovery of Constance’s passport with a placenta inside an RV. But she wasn’t in the RV, and neither was the baby whose placenta the police found.
The couple gave birth to Victoria but concealed her birth and didn’t get her medical care. They also neglected the baby after giving birth to her and obstructed authorities when they saw Victoria. The police began to search for them in the UK after they went missing. Their search started yielding results when reports came that the duo were sighted in various towns in the United Kingdom. The police suspected foul play when the pair were seen moving about, enjoying their lives, and staying in a hotel without a baby.
They were caught trying to go to the sea and didn’t cooperate with the police initially. The police searched public areas close to where they found the couple to look for baby Victoria. If not for the police, who didn’t give up, they wouldn’t have found the remains of the baby.
According to law enforcement officers, they found Victoria placed inside a plastic container while buried beneath bundles of nappies. The baby was buried this way inside a locked shed for an unknown number of days. Unfortunately, Victoria had already lost her life.
Mark Gordon and Constance Marten, were charged in court. Constance who is now 35, had a baby girl but neglected her. The neglect contributed to the death of the poor baby. Hence, both were given manslaughter charges at the British court of law.
What sparked public outrage was the nonchalant attitudes of Victoria’s parents. During the court proceedings, Constance blew Mark a kiss with a smiling face without thinking of their late innocent baby. To make matters worse, they didn’t speak except for the times when they confirmed their personal information.
In summary, the actions of Constance Marten and her boyfriend leave much to be desired. Their neglectful and wicked attitude led to the death of their innocent baby. It is uncertain if the time Constance spent in TB’s camp as a teen has affected her. However, whether it affects her or not, justice has prevailed.
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