Is this why Tatler 'It Girl' turned baby killer Constance Marten's life spun out of control? The months she spent living with an African church - where nudity was enforced and the pastor accused of multiple rapes

Daily Mail​

15-07-2025

Lagos is a long way from the aristocratic world in which Constance Marten grew up – both geographically and culturally.
And yet it's the months she spent in the bustling Nigerian capital that many believe hold the key to understanding how this privileged young woman's life spiralled so disastrously out of control.
Turn the clock back to 2006, and the then teenage Marten found herself living in a 12-storey compound in Africa's biggest city. It was home to a religious group ruled by evangelical pastor Temitope Balogun 'TB' Joshua – known to followers as 'The Prophet'.
Ten years ago, allegations emerged against Joshua and his Synagogue Church of All Nations, known as SCOAN. Since his death in June 2021 aged 57, they have multiplied.
Along with accusations of psychological torture and physical abuse, a number of former female 'disciples' have claimed he repeatedly sexually assaulted and raped them – forcing some to have abortions.
As the Mail reveals today, Marten went there with her mother, Virginie de Selliers, shortly after leaving her £30,000-a-year public school.
'It was made very clear that Constance was being brought to get help – help in the sense that she was rebellious, strong-willed, disobedient,' said a former British member of the church who was present throughout Marten's stay in Nigeria.
Precisely what happened while the 19-year-old was there is unclear. But there's no doubt it affected her deeply. Indeed, she would later say that the experience left her character 'completely broken apart'.
'Constance was very, very badly traumatised by the whole thing,' a family friend said. 'Everyone talks about two Constances – the person she was before she went to Nigeria and the person who came home. She was profoundly and fundamentally changed.'
Another said: 'Put it this way – TB Joshua ruined her life.'
Marten's link to the pastor was revealed by her father during the seven-week manhunt for her and Mark Gordon.
Napier Marten said her time at SCOAN appeared to be the 'trigger' for much of the 'harm' she had suffered in recent years, 'setting up a pattern of behaviour exposing her to easy manipulation'.
The manipulator, according to those close to the family, was Gordon, with whom she had entered an abusive relationship. Giving evidence, Marten claimed that while their time together had its ups and downs, she regarded him as her 'soulmate'.
While living as a disciple at the church, Marten would have referred to Joshua as 'Daddy'.
During the court case, it emerged that her nickname for Gordon was 'Daddy bear'. A coincidence, maybe, but as her fellow former disciple says: 'It is just the classic pattern for people in cults to find themselves going into really negative situations where they have an absolute loyalty to their partner and end up in an abusive relationship.'
So how on earth did the former Tatler 'It' girl find herself caught in the web of charlatan TB Joshua?
For a special episode of the Mail's award-winning The Trial podcast breaking down the Constance Marten verdict, click here
Joshua, a former poultry farm worker turned pastor, founded SCOAN after claiming God had called him to serve during a three-day trance. By 2000, he had established himself as a popular figure among evangelical Christians worldwide.
As well as the 50,000 people who attended his services every week, he went on to run a successful social media network, with millions of viewers on his YouTube channel. His speciality was 'healing' people – anything and everything from cancer to Aids to blindness.
Congregants awed by videos of Joshua's supposed miracles made evangelical churches in Britain fertile recruiting grounds for SCOAN.
Marten and her mother were among them. Described as a devout Christian, Mrs de Selliers had raised her daughter and three sons ever since her husband had left his family.
When not at boarding school, Marten lived with her mother, who became involved with Holy Trinity Brompton, one of Britain's most high-profile evangelical churches. Her daughter attended the church with her from about 2006, as well as its religious summer camps.
While it had no formal links with Holy Trinity, SCOAN relied on foreign support for a steady stream of disciples and financial aid. At the time, Fiona and Gary Tonge were key British followers of TB Joshua and Mrs Tonge recruited British supporters.
A number of those recruited in 2006 are said to have been worshippers at Holy Trinity. The Tonges and Holy Trinity were approached for comment but declined to respond.
'Fiona was keen to get people to go from there to Lagos,' said the source. 'These were called "visits" and were basically pilgrimages for a week at a time.
'I can remember very specifically the time she came with Constance. They stood out like a sore thumb, these really upper-class, white British people. We were told to take extra care of them. And Virginie was quite a presence.'
But while Marten's mother returned home at the end of the visit, Constance stayed on for three months.
'As soon as Constance arrived she started appearing as a visitor inside Joshua's office,' the source said. 'Joshua definitely wanted to recruit her as a disciple from the moment she arrived. She was taken to see him, which are things your average visitor would not get to do.'
One of Joshua's key lieutenants, Bisola Johnson – who would later blow the whistle on the pastor's campaign of abuse – also remembers Marten being brought there by Mrs Tonge.
Speaking from her home in Nigeria, she said Joshua 'used the white people to market his brand'.
The former disciple recalled that Marten struggled to accept the lifestyle, adding: 'She had an independent mind and that didn't go down well... it took quite a lot of suppression to make her conform,' the source said.
Marten would have stayed in an all-female dormitory of up to 100 women, according to the source's experience. Nudity was commonplace. 'If you were going to shower or get changed, you were not permitted to cover up or use a towel for discretion,' said the source.
'You would be reported to Joshua publicly in a disciple meeting if you tried to "hide" your body. So people were literally forced to walk around naked in the room. For many of us, this was an uncomfortable experience.'
Sleep was also restricted to no more than four hours a night.
'She would definitely have undergone sleep deprivation,' the source added. 'If you were found sleeping without permission, you would be punished.'
Any transgressions would be reported by other disciples to TB Joshua for public correction in front of 200 fellow disciples.
'Those corrections were normally quite hard,' said the source. 'They would be embarrassing and crush you inside. And that was the normal life of a disciple – it was literally the tearing down of the person and who they were, to get them to a point of utter submission to TB Joshua.'
Ms Johnson has described her own role in the church, of which she was a member for 14 years until 2008, as effectively 'a spy' and 'a pimp' for Joshua. Many white girls were the target of his depraved desires, she said.
During her time in Lagos, it is claimed Marten was allowed to return home on one occasion, accompanied by a female chaperone from the church. On their return to Nigeria, the chaperone told the other disciples of the Marten family's obvious wealth – including a visit to their 'country cottage' which turned out to be more like a stately home. 'She said it was like being in a Jane Austen novel,' the source recalled.
The reasons for Marten's departure from SCOAN are unclear. Some disciples stayed for more than a decade. Marten would later tell Matthew McNaught, an author who helped expose the sex crimes of TB Joshua in an online blog, that she had effectively been asked to leave the church.
'I believe she had left because she had upset TB Joshua in some way,' Mr McNaught said. 'She was essentially kicked out, or not re-invited. In a funny way, it's harder for those who are in this situation. You've still totally bought into that idea of TB Joshua as a man of God and there was some kind of vision for your life, but you have just failed the mission.'
Upon returning to the UK, it was apparent to those who knew Marten that she had been badly affected by the experience. A friend said: 'She always used to be wild, but also happy, kind and buoyant. She was darker when she came back and she found things more difficult.'
Marten herself was moved to comment on a blog written by another ex-disciple in 2013: 'The outcome of being involved in a cult has huge effects on a person when they escape. Your character is completely broken apart, and it is difficult to explain to others.'
Marten returned gradually to normal life in the years that followed, attending university and training to be a journalist.
She came to speak to Mr McNaught in 2013 after reading his blog. The pair had a long telephone call in which she unburdened herself about her time there. Her said: 'She said after she left, she was struggling for a long time and she was keen to reconnect with some people that had been through similar experiences.'
It was around this time that Marten considered trying to expose Joshua's crimes herself. She pitched an idea for a documentary to Al Jazeera, where she was working as a researcher.
Ms Johnson was among those who Marten asked to help with the documentary, saying she wanted to go undercover and covertly film the church from inside.
But Ms Johnson and others warned Marten against the plan.
'I really feared for her,' she said. 'I told her it will be a very dangerous mission, because TB Joshua would do anything he can to protect his name.'
Joe Hurst, another ex-disciple, also advised Marten not to proceed with the investigation.
But she told Mr Hurst about other strange happenings in her life, such as experiencing 'paranormal activity', which, after a while, got 'out of control' and were 'quite scary'. 'She said it culminated when she was in Starbucks and she collapsed and was just laughing on the floor,' he told the Independent. 'She knew it was a problem, and she was really scared, so she told some church people to pray for her and it stopped after that.'
In the end, the documentary on SCOAN was never made.
And yet, according to those who know Marten, the scars inflicted by her time there never truly healed – and would be reopened by that chance meeting with Gordon. Soon after, she cut off contact with her friends and family.
Having learned about his criminal past, friends and family became deeply worried about what they believed was a controlling and coercive relationship.
It is a point echoed by the former church member.
'She has just gone from one coercive situation to another,' said the source. 'This is what happens when someone doesn't get the help they need. It could have been prevented. It is deeply sad.'
While Mrs de Selliers declined to comment on her or her daughter's involvement with SCOAN, sources say she had become concerned about her daughter during her time there and was involved in ensuring she came home.
A spokesman for SCOAN said: 'We do not know of nor are affiliated with Constance Marten and are unaware of any connection she may have to the Synagogue Church of All Nations.
'All previous allegations against the Synagogue Church of all Nations and TB Joshua are inherently false and deeply troubling.
'We remain steadfast that the ethical and moral values TB Joshua and the church stand for are of the utmost importance and there is no merit behind these claims.'
For a special episode of the Mail's award-winning The Trial series breaking down the Constance Marten verdict, search for 'The Trial of Constance Marten & Mark Gordon' now, wherever you get your podcasts.