Constance Marten and Mark Gordon “had plenty of opportunities to do the right thing” while on the run before their newborn baby died, police have said.
The couple were found guilty of gross negligence manslaughter of their daughter Victoria on Monday following a retrial at the Old Bailey.
They were previously convicted of child cruelty, concealing the birth of a child and perverting the course of justice in relation to the same incident in early 2023.
Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford of the Metropolitan Police said the child’s future had been “snatched away” and that her death was “completely avoidable”.
He said: “Today, the justice we have long fought for has been finally been served for baby Victoria.
“The selfish actions of Mark Gordon and Constance Marten resulted in the death of a newborn baby who should have had the rest of her life ahead of her.
“She should have recently celebrated her second birthday, but this was snatched away by the very people who should’ve protected and cared for her.”
Mr Basford said the investigation and search for Victoria had been challenging and “incredibly complex” for the hundreds of officers involved.The country’s most experienced child pathologists had been unable to establish Victoria’s cause of death after Marten, 38, and Gordon, 51, continued to hide the baby from police after their arrest.
Her body was eventually discovered with rubbish inside a shopping bag in a disused shed near Brighton.
During his evidence in the trial Gordon had blamed a national police manhunt for the baby’s loss, saying Victoria would still be alive had the police not pursued them after their car burst into flames on a motorway near Bolton.
The officer continued: “We know today’s verdict won’t bring Victoria back, but I am pleased our painstaking investigation has resulted in those who caused her death being brought to justice.
“Victoria’s death was completely avoidable. The couple had plenty of opportunities to do the right thing and come forward to ask for help.
“They knew throughout that officers were looking for them and baby Victoria. They also ignored medical professionals who directly reached out to them to say their actions were putting baby Victoria at risk.”
The trial heard the couple were avoiding their fifth child being removed from them after their previous four were placed into social care by the family court, with Marten claiming in her evidence that they were “stolen by the state”.
Mr Basford said the defendants’ convictions proved that “ultimately these previous decisions have been shown to be right”.
The officer thanked both Sussex Police for their support in the investigation and the jury “for their resilience in the face of extremely harrowing evidence”.
He added: “Speaking personally as a father, I find it hard to comprehend how, instead of providing the warmth and care their child needed, Mark Gordon and Constance Marten chose to live outside during freezing conditions to avoid the authorities, causing the death of baby Victoria.”
Marten and Gordon will be sentenced on a date to be set.
