Latest news with #SamanthaYelland
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Prosecutor reflects on ‘long road' to justice for baby Victoria
A senior prosecutor has reflected on the 'long road' to justice for baby Victoria, saying nothing was too much for the child unable to 'stick up' for herself. On Monday, Victoria's parents, Constance Marten and Mark Gordon, were convicted of her manslaughter following two lengthy trials spanning two years. Samantha Yelland, senior Crown prosecutor for CPS London, told the PA news agency: 'I feel that justice has been done. 'It's been a long road, it's been a lot of work, but, you know, no work is too much when anyone's died, but particularly a young child who wasn't able to stick up for herself or fight for herself.' Last year, a jury failed to reach verdicts on whether the defendants were responsible to Victoria's death but did convict them of concealing her birth, child cruelty and perverting the course of justice by hiding her body in a shed. Ms Yelland sought a retrial on charges of manslaughter and causing or allowing Victoria's death in the public interest, even though it meant a second six-month trial. Explaining the decision, she said: 'A baby died in circumstances which she absolutely didn't need to and could have been avoided. 'That is why it's serious and it needs to be prosecuted. Obviously none of us expected it to take this long.' Dealing with a case involving the death of a baby is 'always upsetting' even for an experienced team, she said. Ms Yelland said: 'I consider it a privilege to prosecute baby cases. It is very upsetting, it could be harrowing, but usually the people charged with their killing is someone who is supposed to look after them. 'Some of the evidence in is not very nice, but we're just looking at the whole picture and wanting to get justice for the person who has died.' Images of Victoria's body found rotting amid rubbish in a Lidl bag in a shed near Brighton have stuck in her mind throughout the case. She said: 'I've seen what baby Victoria looks like inside of that bag. I've seen the post-mortem photos. 'We didn't subject the jury to that because that is not a nice thing to see. But the baby is in that bag, which we know she was carried around in when she died, but also when she was alive. It is probably what stays with me the most. And what was on top, the rubbish, the Coke can and the sandwich wrapper. 'And the two police officers finding it. You can see how moved they are when they realise that they found it. Obviously, that had been a manhunt been going on for a couple of days by that stage.' On the defendants' actions after four other children were taken into care, Ms Yelland said: 'We never said that they didn't love their children, but when it comes to decision making, it's the prosecution view that they think of themselves above the children. 'And that's why they got themselves into the predicament they did. And that's why Victoria died, and that's why they continued to keep her there in that bag for however long it was after she died and not go to the police and not explain the situation. 'And that's why I charged perverting the course of justice rather than preventing the lawful for burial, which is another offence I could have considered. 'For me, it was more than that because they kept it for such a long time that the state that she was in was such that we couldn't be sure if there had been an injury – not that we're saying there was for a minute – but we wouldn't have been able to tell because at the amount of time that she'd been in there. 'I do accept that there were experts that said that everyone grieves differently and everyone deals with things differently, but I think the whole theme of this case is that they think about themselves more than they think about their children and other people.' Ms Yelland said the case had presented multiple challenges for the prosecution before baby Victoria was found dead on March 1 2023. Discussions had already started about charging Gordon and Marten even in the absence of a body. The CPS pressed ahead with charges despite a post-mortem examination failing to ascertain exactly how Victoria died. With no pathological cause of death, the jury was asked to look at other evidence that Victoria died from hypothermia or smothering, as the defendants claimed. Ms Yelland said: 'We decided that although there were two distinct ways in which she may have died, our main case is that she died of hypothermia. 'The defendants raised that she was smothered and in response to that, we say, while we don't accept that, even if that were to be the case, the circumstances in which she was smothered are such it still amounts to grossly negligence manslaughter. 'It's our case that hypothermia would have been heavily involved in any smothering anyway, because she's been subjected to very cold conditions with the items that she was wearing and would not have been as healthy.' In a change from the original trial, an expert replicated cold and damp conditions in the tent where Victoria died and examined her inadequate clothes pointing to hypothermia being the likely cause. Other challenges involved piecing together and assessing sightings of the defendants from across England in the seven weeks they were on the run with baby Victoria. Mr Yelland said that the prosecution was able to narrow the timeline in the second trial although the prosecution still asserted Victoria survived for longer than the defendants had said. Towards the end of the retrial, Gordon, who by then was representing himself, provided the prosecution with the chance to lift the lid on his 1989 rape conviction in the United States after he gave a misleading impression of his childhood. When he refuted the convictions, the prosecution moved swiftly to produce an embossed certificate from a Florida court to prove it.
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon guilty of gross negligence manslaughter over baby's death
Update: Date: 14:48 BST Title: 'Reckless actions driven by selfish desire to keep baby no matter the cost' Content: We can now bring you a statement from Samantha Yelland, London's senior crown prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service. "It is shocking that parents could subject their newborn baby to such obvious risks and today a jury has convicted Constance Marten and Mark Gordon for their crimes – after the prosecution brought fresh evidence to prove their guilt," she says. Yelland adds that their "reckless actions were driven by a selfish desire to keep their baby no matter the cost – resulting in her tragic death". These defendants did everything they could to evade the authorities – from avoiding the use of their bank cards to the point that they were starving, ditching their phones to avoid being traced and travelling hundreds of miles daily from place to place to dodge the police." Update: Date: 14:45 BST Title: Marten and Gordon 'have shown little remorse' Content: The head of the Crown Prosecution Service has issued a statement accusing Marten and Gordon of seeking to disrupt their own trial. Chief prosecutor Jaswant Narwal said they "have shown little remorse for their actions, using different antics to frustrate and delay court proceedings". She continues: "These were challenging trials. No child should have had its life cut short in this preventable way. "I hope these convictions provide a sense of justice and comfort to all those affected by this tragic case." Update: Date: 14:40 BST Title: What did jurors learn about Marten during the retrial? Content: Helena WilkinsonReporting from court The jury heard that Constance Marten comes from a wealthy family. But she said she "never really had a strong connection with them". Asked if she would describe her background as privileged, Marten said "financially yes, emotionally not at all". She was privately educated and went to boarding school at the age of around 8. At Leeds University she said she did a degree in Arabic and Middle Eastern history. She told jurors that "ironically" one of things she wanted to do was journalism. She worked at Al Jazeera for a time. She also worked in coffee shops and as a nanny in Switzerland. She said since she was little she had always wanted to have big family and would have loved to live on farm. "At least seven children would be my dream." Update: Date: 14:34 BST Title: Guilty of gross negligence manslaughter - what does this mean? Content: Helena WilkinsonReporting from court For the jury to have found the pair guilty of gross negligence manslaughter, it means that the couple's behaviour was so exceptionally bad and fell below the standard of reasonably competent parents of a new born baby. Before jurors began deliberations they were told by the judge that to find them guilty of gross negligence manslaughter is a "very high bar which the prosecution must cross". Prosecutors said that Marten and Gordon exposed Victoria to the cold, damp and windy conditions with wholly inadequate clothing. And that a child who became hypothermic in such circumstances must have done so through a breach of the duty of care. Or that Victoria died by smothering or suffocation, a reason for that was the cold and damp conditions in a small, thin tent or being zipped up in Marten's jacket. Update: Date: 14:30 BST Title: Marten speaks from the dock Content: Helena WilkinsonReporting from court Constance Marten has just said "it's a scam" from the dock. Update: Date: 14:29 BST Title: Child cruelty conviction from first trial now reportable Content: Helena WilkinsonReporting from court We can now report that Marten and Gordon were convicted of child cruelty at their first trial in 2024. Until now there had been an order preventing the media from reporting that verdict. The jury in the first trial found that the couple had wilfully neglected baby Victoria in a manner likely to cause her unnecessary suffering or injury to health. The prosecution's case on that was that Marten and Gordon had made a conscious decision not to protect Victoria or keep her safe and it was clear their actions were deliberate. Update: Date: 14:26 BST Title: An extraordinary case Content: Helena WilkinsonReporting from court Marten and Gordon's case was highly unusual. From the couple's disruptive and unpredictable behaviour, to Marten's accusations in the witness box about her aristocratic family, private detectives, and social services. The judge accused them of trying to "sabotage" and "derail" their retrial. "I have sat as a full time Judge now for thirteen years and I have never had that sort of attitude shown to me by anybody," His Honour Judge Mark Lucraft KC said about Marten one day. The couple dominated and deflected, demanded and distracted. They caused endless delays by not turning up. Barristers were sacked. Others withdrew. Marten got through an extraordinary number - 14 since their first hearing at the Old Bailey. They disrespected the judge, were rude to some of the dock officers and would often chat during proceedings. But there were poignant moments during their case too. CCTV footage played on screens around the courtroom of baby Victoria - tiny and delicate in a teddy bear onesie – being placed in a pram by her parents, was a reminder of why we were all there. Update: Date: 14:23 BST Title: Judge to schedule sentencing for future date Content: Helena WilkinsonReporting from court Judge tells jury he won't set a date for sentence today, but will do at a future date. He tells the jury they are welcome to come back for that if they wish. As the jury leaves the courtroom, Marten looks ahead, showing no reaction. Update: Date: 14:22 BST Title: Marten and Gordon react as guilty verdicts read Content: Levi JouavelReporting from court Constance Marten sighs and shakes her head whilst verdicts are read out. Mark Gordon had little reaction but is sitting with his eyes closed and his head resting back against the wall. Update: Date: 14:19 BST Title: Marten and Gordon both guilty Content: Helena WilkinsonReporting from court Mark Gordon and Constance Marten are both guilty of gross negligence manslaughter. Update: Date: 14:19 BST Title: Marten and Gordon asked to stand Content: Helena WilkinsonReporting from court The defendants are asked to stand. Constance Marten remains seated, as does Gordon. Update: Date: 14:18 BST Title: Jury entering the courtroom Content: Helena WilkinsonReporting from court The jury are being brought into the court now. Stay with us for updates. Update: Date: 14:15 BST Title: Marten and Gordon in dock Content: Helena WilkinsonReporting from court The judge has entered court. Constance Marten and Mark Gordon are in the dock. Update: Date: 14:15 BST Title: What are Marten and Gordon accused of? Content: Helena WilkinsonReporting from the Old Bailey While we wait for the verdicts, a reminder that Constance Marten and Mark Gordon face two counts which they both deny. They relate to their newborn baby, Victoria, and are: Update: Date: 14:15 BST Title: What this case is about Content: Constance Marten, 38, and Mark Gordon, 51, both deny manslaughter by gross negligence over the death of their child, Victoria. Victoria's decomposed body was found in a shopping bag in a Brighton allotment shed in March 2023, two months after they went on the run. She had died in a tent in the South Downs in January 2023. They also deny causing or allowing the death of a child. At a previous trial, Marten and Gordon were found guilty of concealing Victoria's birth and perverting the course of justice by not reporting her death. But the jury could not come to a verdict on the outstanding charges and this retrial began in March. Update: Date: 14:12 BST Title: Verdict expected in retrial over death of newborn baby Content: The jury in the case of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon are returning to the courtroom at the Old Bailey, as we await a verdict. The two defendants are accused of manslaughter by gross negligence, and causing or allowing the death of a child. They deny both charges. The couple's baby girl was found dead in a shopping bag covered in rubbish, in a shed on a Brighton allotment in 2023. Our correspondents are in court and we'll bring you the latest as it happens.
