Aristocrat Constance Marten and her convicted rapist partner have been jailed for 14 years for killing their newborn baby while on the run.
Marten, 38, and Mark Gordon, 51, were in hiding when their baby daughter Victoria died in a tent on the South Downs in January 2023.
The defendants had fled authorities to prevent baby Victoria being taken into care, as four other siblings had been before, the Old Bailey had heard.
They were found guilty of her manslaughter, child cruelty, concealing the birth of a child and perverting the course of justice following two trials spanning six months each.
On Monday, Judge Mark Lucraft KC jailed them both for 14 years and handed Gordon a further four years on extended licence.
The judge accepted the prosecution case that baby Victoria died from hypothermia after being exposed to “significant cold stress”.
He rejected the defendants’ claims that Victoria was smothered in a “terrible accident” as they slept in the tent.
The offending was made worse because the baby was vulnerable and the defendants failed to listen to past warnings.
In a televised sentencing, Judge Lucraft told the defendants: “It is clear throughout the period neither of you gave much or any thought for the care or love for your baby.”
The judge said they had displayed “arrogance” and treated Victoria to “neglect of the most serious type”.
Police had launched a nationwide hunt after their car burst into flames on a motorway near Bolton, Greater Manchester, on January 5 2023.
The defendants travelled across England and went off-grid, sleeping in a tent on the South Downs where baby Victoria died days later.
After seven weeks on the run, the defendants were arrested in Brighton.
After a desperate search, police found their baby dead amid rubbish inside a Lidl bag for life in a disused shed near by.
Victoria’s remains were too badly decomposed to establish the cause of death.
Earlier, the judge had told off the defendants for their “disruptive” behaviour in the dock as their lawyers were mitigating for them.
Justice, but a pyrrhic one.
Child killers don’t do well in prison.
You’re right they don’t.
They had lots of opportunities to hand Baby V into a Drs Surgery or Hospital, but instead chose to do what they did.
Very sad-as her other Children miss out on there Sister-who could have been given a good life with Her Family or Foster Care.