Aristocrat Constance Marten complained that she was falling asleep in the dock and exhausted from a regime of “disgusting” food and long days as she stood trial at the Old Bailey for manslaughter.
The 38-year-old is now facing a lengthy spell in prison for killing her baby daughter Victoria when she and her partner went on the run from authorities.
Marten was convicted of gross negligence manslaughter on Monday, at the end of two Old Bailey trials which were beset by delays – often contributed to by the defendants themselves.
Midway through her second trial, Marten gave an interview to a magazine, The View, in which she aired a shopping list of complaints about her treatment.
In the article, and accompanying podcast, Marten takes aim at Serco, the private firm which manages transport from prison to court.
One of the founders of the magazine is Farah Damji, a convicted stalker and notorious conwoman, who is serving time in HMP Bronzefield alongside Marten.
In her article, Marten criticises the “dehumanising” justice process, and suggests it is preventing her from having a fair trial.
“This entire system will continue preventing us from having a right to a fair trial as long as we allow this to continue”, she wrote.
“I feel as if I need to sue Serco for adversely affecting my trial, preventing me from accessing my lawyers, and for my mental health, which is in pieces.”
Marten was arrested in late-February 2023 after a nationwide manhunt, when she had secretly given birth to a baby girl.
Her other four children had already been taken from her by the family courts, leading Marten and Gordon to believe their fifth child, Victoria, would suffer the same fate.
They took cars and taxis around the country to try to avoid detection, before eventually deciding to camp on the South Downs in the middle of winter.
“The State has made the decision to charge me and deny me bail for over two years”, wrote Marten. “It should be a given necessity that remand prisoners like me have access to a legal team and I'm able to get enough rest between long court days to attend my trial.”
She said the journey from the prison each day takes two hours, and accuses Serco of “squeezing as many women as it can into one van that can carry prisoners”.
Marten continued: “They're paid for prisoners they transport not per trip, and companies are obliged to deliver maximum profit to their shareholders with minimum concern for the dignity, rights or decent treatment of women prisoners.
“They turn them all into one van with two Serco officers, one driving and one in the back by the prisoners. This means paying minimum wages to pay for misuse of fuel and less wear and tear on their prison vans, which the ECHR has deemed unfit for transporting humans. Of course this means maximum profits.”
Marten complained about being “stuck” in the van on her return to prison from court, and suggested it could be midnight before she got back to her cell.
“Prisoners are then woken up at 5.15pm to attend court the next day, then locked behind a door in the reception area until 7.30am when the first Serco van leaves with the prisoners”, she went on.
Marten said there was often “no time” for meeting with lawyers on arrival at court.
She added: “Court food is disgusting and it's inadequate. It's just a tiny microwave meal that hasn't been changed for over 20 years, left in the Old Bailey's stone cold cells in the basement until 7.30pm to 8.30pm every day.”
She took aim at the courthouse’s “freezing” temperatures and broken heating system, and moaned about “17-19 hour days with little or no rest”.
“I'm then expected to be alert in the dock”, she said.
“I think it really prejudices my case when I'm falling asleep in front of the jury when I decide to attend, but then when I don't decide to attend because I'm just too tired, it reflects badly on me and makes me seem like I care so little about my trial that I'm falling asleep.
“That's just not true. My life depends on the outcome of this trial.”
Marten made an unsubstantiated claimed that “many women are in contempt of court because they quit attending (court) after a few days”, and added that she had been put into segregation in prison.
Both Marten and Gordon earned a reputation in court as troublesome, both in the dock when arguing with the judge and in the cells.
The couple sacked an array of lawyers during the course of legal proceedings, ending in Gordon representing himself.
Marten complained to Judge Mark Lucraft KC, the Recorder of London, about conditions in the cells, saying: “I was abused for three hours in the cell”, suggesting a fellow inmate has been “saying I am a baby killer and I am so fat that I sat on my baby and killed her.”
She accused journalists of breaching their privacy by looking at them, and also suggested reporters covering her trial were failing to “speak truth to power”.
Her magazine article is being looked at as a potential contempt of court, as it featured an image of one of her children – something which is banned by a court order.
Marten and Gordon have already indicated they will try to appeal their convictions, while making threats of public inquiries and investigations into their treatment in prison.
With these defendants, the saga looks like to run for some time yet.
