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The Independent
11 minutes ago
- The Independent
Aristocrat Constance Marten launches bid to overturn conviction for killing baby while on the run
Aristocrat Constance Marten has launched a bid to overturn her conviction for killing her newborn daughter while on the run from police. Baby Victoria perished in a 'thin and flimsy' tent after Marten and her partner Mark Gordon, a convicted rapist, took her off-grid to stop the infant from being taken into care. The parents are facing years in jail after they were both convicted of gross negligence manslaughter in a retrial this summer. In a separate trial last year, the couple were also found guilty of concealing their daughter's birth, child cruelty and perverting the course of justice by hiding her body in a rubbish-filled plastic shopping bag. An appeal bid following their first trial was previously rejected. However Marten, 38, has now lodged a fresh application at the Court of Appeal seeking permission to appeal her manslaughter conviction, according to court officials. Over the course of the two drawn-out trials, it emerged the couple had carefully concealed Marten's pregnancy with Victoria – their fifth child – before going on the run to stop her from being taken into care. Their first four children had been removed by a family court – a decision which the parents claimed was a miscarriage of justice driven by a 'corrupt' social services system. She gave birth in secret in a holiday cottage before they frantically travelled the country with the baby hidden inside Marten's coat – at first by road and later in taxis paid for with cash from her trust fund – after their car caught fire on the M61. They decided to settle 'off-grid' in the South Downs with little more than some sleeping bags and a cheap tent amid a nationwide manhunt after police found the remains of a placenta in their burnt-out car. But Victoria died after Marten fell asleep with her zipped inside her jacket as they sheltered in the tent in January 2023. After the unanimous guilty verdict for manslaughter was read out in July, Marten, wearing a blue top and dark trousers, later shouted 'it's a scam' from the dock. Gordon, 51, has previously served 22 years in a Florida prison for raping a woman armed with a knife and hedge clippers in a 1989 home invasion when he was 14 years old. A further charge against Gordon for failing to comply with his sex offender notification requirements while on the run was this week dropped by prosecutors. Prosecutor Joel Smith KC told the Old Bailey that in light of his recent conviction for manslaughter, the Crown Prosecution Service took the view that it was no longer in the public interest to pursue the charge. Gordon, who appeared by video-link from Belmarsh prison unrepresented by a lawyer, seemed uncertain when asked to enter a plea. Judge Mark Lucraft KC told him: 'If you plead not guilty that will bring proceedings to an end.' Gordon then responded: 'Of course, not guilty.' Mr Smith then offered no evidence and invited Judge Lucraft to formally acquit Gordon. The parents are due to be sentenced on 15 September.
The Independent
11 minutes ago
- The Independent
Men, you've really got to hand it to the porn-blockers…
Poor old Pornhub. The UK's most visited pornography site is having a barren August and not just because its (mostly male) users are on holiday with the family. Following the introduction of new age verification rules, as part of the Online Safety Act – which requires users to prove how old they are by entering credit card details or using their bank account, mobile phone contract or facial recognition – traffic to Pornhub has almost halved. In the fortnight between July 24 (the day before the new legislation came in) and August 8, visitors to the site fell by 47 per cent, according to data experts Similarweb. Other adult sites have also reported drops in UK traffic. OnlyFans is apparently down 10 per cent, but that could be down to having banned Bonnie Blue. No word yet on whether the amount of laundry being done in the middle of the night has fallen, too. Let me be the first to say a tentative woohoo. I previously wrote in these pages how, ahead of the age verification kicking in, online forums had been flooded with men (and 73 per cent of UK porn users are male) angry that the trifling matter of keeping children safe was getting in the way of their unrestricted pleasure. Now? It seems possible that at least some of those chaps have cut themselves off. Sounds painful. If the side effect of protecting society's most vulnerable – the average age that children are thought to first view explicit porn in this country is just 13 – is that some men have had their own online habit broken? That's surely something to celebrate. University College London academics might say it can take between 18 to 255 days to form a new habit, but I bet their study didn't take into account the prospect of having to put your real details into a porn site and the potential for data leaks. I've interviewed porn-addicted men, who told me about the mindless scrolling, almost numb to what they were seeing, searching for ever darker material to get a kick. They wanted to stop but felt unable to tear themselves away – maybe the thought of having to enter their long card number was the breaker some have been waiting for. Not unlike (indulge me) my friend whose unstoppable M&S fashion habit was cut off by the cyberattack the retailer experienced this summer and which denied her access to its website for several weeks. Look, I'm not naive. I do realise that a lot of Pornhub's users will now be using VPNs (Virtual Private Networks), which disguise the location of their IP address and were the most downloaded thing on the UK Apple App Store in the days after the new rules came in. That makes data on UK visits to porn sites hard to pin down. Nor do we know exactly which users have stopped scrolling. Is it those accessing the most violent pornography day after day? Or the more casual viewer who doesn't rely on porn enough to bother going through age checks – easier just to knock it on the head. Still, I can't help wondering whether these men might not come to thank the likes of Baroness Kidron, who campaigned tirelessly to get this legislation passed. She's likened it to making children 'climb out of the window', rather than just giving them unrestricted access. If a few men are also reluctant to shimmy down the drainpipe? That's surely progress, however angry they might be.
BBC News
12 minutes ago
- BBC News
Fly-tipped road signs with Wokingham council logo found
Road signs with council branding have been found fly-tipped in a public signs for Frankin Drive were spotted dumped alongside bricks and other building rubble behind Ashridge Farm, off Bell Foundry Lane, in Wokingham, Harding, Wokingham Borough Council's executive member for the environment, told a council meeting the items were left on private land and the council was "liaising with [the landowner] to get the items removed". She also said the council did not condone BBC asked the council for more information, including how the signs came to be fly-tipped, the but the council said it was unable to comment further. 'Elephant in the room' Peter Humphreys showed evidence of the fly-tipping to councillors at a full meeting of Wokingham Borough Council on 31 said: "We often read reports of fly-tipping in the borough and council officers diligently picking through it to find evidence of those responsible."However, the culprit is often staring them in the face and, much like the 'elephant in the room', is overlooked."My photos show a pile of discarded road name signs with the words Wokingham Borough Council and official crest clearly emblazoned on them, together with various abandoned building materials."He said the items, which were "only a few metres from a children's playground", could be dangerous and could suggest to children it was "ok to throw rubbish in public places if the council are doing it".In response, Ms Harding said: "We will always act on any reports of fly-tipping, to clean up our borough and to seek evidence to support the most appropriate legal action."On this occasion, we have investigated your report and established that the items are on private land owned by a developer."In accordance with this, we are liaising with them to get the items removed and ensure the area is kept clean and tidy for the enjoyment of local residents and users of the play area." You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
