• A British couple was sentenced to 14 years for the manslaughter of their baby daughter.
• The couple went on the run trying to avoid social services after previous children were taken into care.
• Their baby was found dead after they lived in a tent during severe winter conditions.

A British couple, Constance Marten and Mark Gordon, were sentenced to 14 years in prison each for the manslaughter by gross negligence of their baby daughter Victoria. The couple, who went on the run to avoid social services, sparked a nationwide manhunt after their abandoned car was discovered burned, containing a placenta wrapped in a towel, indicating the child’s birth while living off-grid in freezing conditions, according to Reuters and South China Morning Post.

The couple's deliberate actions to evade authorities, influenced by the previous removal of their four other children from their custody, prompted Judge Mark Lucraft to describe their behavior as “arrogant and grossly negligent.” During the trial, it became evident that Marten, 38, and Gordon, 51, had spent several weeks living in a tent amidst severe winter conditions, greatly endangering their baby’s life, according to CBS News and Channel News Asia.

After the couple was arrested following a two-month manhunt, baby Victoria's body was found in a shopping bag on a vegetable patch. In court, Marten claimed that the baby died after accidentally falling asleep in the cold tent, although the judge indicated that hypothermia was likely the cause of death. According to court statements, neither Marten nor Gordon demonstrated any remorse for their actions, and Lucraft emphasized that their focus remained on themselves rather than the welfare of their child, as reported by Reuters, South China Morning Post, and CBS News.