As a young debutante, Constance Marten cheerfully described her carefree life of society parties and summer holidays when she featured in an edition of Tatler magazine.
Then aged 21 and going by her nickname Toots, the aristocrat confidently posed in a 1920’s-style flapper dress after being crowned ‘Babe of the Month’ by the high society publication.
Now Marten has been elevated to cover girl after her smiling image was emblazoned across the front page of an altogether less aspirational magazine called ‘The View’.
For readers not in the know, the publication heralds itself as ‘a grass-roots social enterprise and campaigning platform that gives voice to women in the justice system’ with the support of ‘leading barristers, jurists and human rights advocates’.
In reality, MailOnline can reveal, the bizarre, glossy magazine is a mouthpiece for its founder Farah Damji, one of Britain’s most notorious con artists who is also a serial stalker and a fellow inmate of Marten.
Damji – who is the daughter of a multi-millionaire property tycoon and has left behind a trail of countless shattered lives in a criminal career spanning 30 years – once insisted that no woman should ever go to prison.
And it appears Marten is the latest recruit to her campaign.
The View, which was launched in 2020, describes itself as a radical publication for ‘women with conviction’, could now face contempt of court proceedings over the article, which could have derailed a prosecution which has cost taxpayers around £2.8million over two trials across the last two years.
Constance Marten had her smiling image emblazoned across the front page of a magazine called ‘The View’
Marten was convicted on Monday of killing her baby, Victoria, with her lover Mark Gordon after the pair fled authorities in December 2022
Published quarterly in digital and print formats, it now boasts of having more than 15,000 paid subscribers including judges and officials working in government departments and think tanks.
It claims to produce up to four digital magazines each year and one ‘bumper’ annual print edition which can be purchased for £20 for subscribers. Individual digital editions can also be purchased for £5.
The magazine claims to have 25,000 readers with printed copies available in 130 stockists as well as all 12 women’s prisons in England and Wales with 2,000 copies distributed in libraries at a cover cost of £5.
There have been 79 episodes of its Rebel Justice podcast since the first episode was released in November 2021.
Among its champions is former Labour peer Baroness Uddin who described The View as ‘an incredible magazine’ during a debate on women in the criminal justice system in the House of Lords in 2019.
In an exclusive interview with the magazine, Marten, 38, paints a very different picture of her life from that of the upbeat trust-fund heiress of her Tatler days in 2009.
It appears the publication – along with an accompanying podcast in which her ‘unflinching testimony’ is read by an actor – has given her the platform as a champion for the rights of vulnerable women who are ‘survivors of trauma and state-endorsed violence’.
Shedding light on the ‘ongoing injustices women face in the legal system’, Marten outlines her ‘harrowing experience’ as she stood trial at the Old Bailey alongside her rapist partner Mark Gordon, 51, after they were accused of killing their newborn baby.
In a self-pitying rant about her ‘inhumane conditions’, Marten complained of the exhaustive process of having to sit through the hearing day after day while enduring the commute backwards and forwards from Bronzefield Prison in Ashford, Surrey where she was being detained.
Marten – who spent a number of days absent from the court – complained the regime left her falling asleep in the dock while she was forced to endure ‘freezing’ conditions as the Old Bailey heating system was not working and had to eat ‘disgusting’ court food.
In the article Marten, heiress worth £2.4million, took aim at Serco, the private firm which manages transport from prison to court while criticising the ‘dehumanising’ justice process.
She said: ‘This entire system will continue preventing us from having a right to a fair trial as long as we allow this to continue.
‘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.’
Prisoner A9624X also compared slammed prosecutors, claiming she was spoken to like a child. She also compared the lawyers to Dementors from Harry Potter, creatures referred to as ‘soul sucking fiends.’
She said of her CPS prosecutors: ‘Tom Little and Joel Smith remind me of Dementors from Harry Potter. There’s no empathy.
I felt like I was being grilled as a serial killer.
‘They all use this disgusting tone, like they’re reprimanding a small child. I’ve heard them laugh and joke with others but with me, it’s always condescending.’
There is no mention of the freezing and inhumane conditions in which her newborn daughter Victoria died whose body was found in a Lidl carrier bag after Marten and Gordon went on the run from the authorities in December 2022.
MailOnline can reveal The View magazine is a mouthpiece for its founder Farah Damji (above), one of Britain’s most notorious con artists who is also a serial stalker and a fellow inmate of Marten
The View describes itself as a radical publication for ‘women with conviction’ and started as a prison magazine
Published quarterly in digital and print formats, The View boasts of having more than 15,000 paid subscribers including judges and officials working in government departments and think tanks
The couple – who had already had four children taken into care – took cars and taxis around the country to try to avoid detection, before setting up home in a flimsy tent on the South Downs in the middle of winter.
When police finally caught up with the pair in February the following year, baby Victoria, whose grandfather was a page of honour to Queen Elizabeth II, was found dumped in a disused shed in a Lidl shopping bag.
On top of her body was an empty beer can and the discarded packaging of an egg sandwich.
Prosecutors believe she died from hypothermia or smothering but by then the corpse was too badly decomposed to be certain.
Neither defendant was prepared to shed any light on the child’s death and Gordon claimed Victoria would be alive today had police not pursued them.
Astonishingly, the article was published half way through the couple’s lengthy and chaotic second trial at the Old Bailey which the judge accused the couple of trying to ‘sabotage’ and ‘derail’.
They are now facing lengthy prison sentences after being found guilty of Victoria’s manslaughter by gross negligence.
The article is now being looked at as a potential contempt of court as it featured an image of one of the couple’s children – which is banned by a court order.
It appeared in the magazine alongside a piece focusing on another ‘disturbing case’ highlighting how women are being ‘failed’ by the criminal justice system – that of the paper’s editor Damji, 58.
Ugandan-born Damj first came to public prominence after she admitted having an affair with Guardian columnist William Dalrymple who she was later accused of stalking.
Damji – once dubbed ‘London’s most dangerous woman’ – is also said to have had a high profile affair with a senior executive on the paper.
Just days before Marten’s conviction, Damji was jailed for six years after she set out to destroy the life of her latest victim, former British diplomat Dr Nigel Gould-Davies.
Dr Gould-Davies, a former British Ambassador to Belarus, was stalked, harassed and defrauded during an horrific campaign of ‘lies and abuse’.
The pair met through the dating site Bumble in July 2023 – days after Damji had been released from prison for a previous offence.
The mother-of-two was using the fake name Noor Higham as they struck up a relationship, enjoying meals out, theatre trips, and spending time at his apartment.
Dr Gould-Davies supported Damji through a cancer diagnosis and also helped out with her magazine and podcast.
The forums would later be used to launch an attack on Dr Gould-Davies during Damji’s trial.
One podcast released in April this year was entitled ‘Nigel Davies: A forensic analysis of a serial predator.’ It featured evidence which trial judge Joanna Greenberg KC had ruled to be inadmissible during the ongoing case.
Meanwhile, in court, the jury was told that within weeks of the start of their relationship, Damji had began sending ‘hateful’ emails and messages to Dr Gould-Davies’ employers at the International Institute of Strategic Studies as well as work colleagues and his brother.
Defamatory false allegations were also sent to others associated with his professional life including his local MP Emily Thornberry, solicitors, a foreign ambassador and news organisations.
The jury at Wood Green Crown Court was told the messages were sent under false names including that of Clare Simms.
The messages, which the court heard were designed to undermine Dr Gould-Davies’ character and professional credibility, made bogus allegations that he was involved in money laundering, committed violence against women and breaches of the Official Secrets Act.
Clare Simms is listed along with Noor Higham as directors of The View which was set up as a community interest company in 2020.
On its website Simms is described as the magazine’s editor at large.
The court heard hateful messages were also sent by Holly Bright who is said to be The View’s publishing director.
She is also a former director of the firm which has twice fought off compulsory strike-off actions and whose latest accounts published this week show it has no capital, assets or creditors and liabilities and is listed as dormant.
Damji has accused Dr Gould-Davies of mounting a campaign against the magazine and making a complaint about its officers to companies house.
During her campaign of abuse, Damji stole a sensitive document relating to Russia and threatened to hand it over to the Russians leading to Dr Gould-Davies fearing he was in danger.
She also stole his passport and bank card which she used on a spending spree making purchases at fashion outlet Paul Smith in a £13,621 fraud.
Dr Gould-Davies was so alarmed he quit London to work in Berlin in a bid to get away from his mystery stalker, and separately ended his relationship with Damji in February 2024 – still unaware that she was his tormentor.
In an exclusive interview with The View, Marten (above) painted a very different picture of her life from that of the upbeat trust-fund heiress of her Tatler days in 2009
It appears the publication gave Marten (above) the platform as a champion for the rights of vulnerable women who are ‘survivors of trauma and state-endorsed violence’
Marten (above) said her trial at the Old Bailey was a ‘harrowing experience’ as she stood alongside her rapist partner Mark Gordon, 51, accused of killing their newborn baby
Marten (above) complained she was forced to endure ‘freezing’ conditions – yet there was no mention of the freezing and inhumane conditions in which her newborn daughter Victoria died after she and Gordon went on the run from the authorities
Marten (above) was pictured during a police interview in an image released earlier this week by Metropolitan Police
When police caught up with the pair (above) in February 2023, baby Victoria was found dumped in a disused shed in a Lidl shopping bag
While in Berlin, he investigated a website filled with slurs against his character which led him to discover Damji’s true identity and prompting him to contact police.
Meanwhile Damji had mounted an operation to track Dr Gould-Davies down, attending his London flat with associates, visiting areas around his mother’s home in Spain, and contacting his brother in the USA.
She identified his hotel through clues from a TV interview he conducted with CNN from his room and in March 2024 she sent him an email pretending to come from his ex-girlfriend, saying she knew where he was staying.
The following day Damji was arrested at Heathrow Airport as she made a bid to fly to Berlin and has been in custody since.
The court heard Damji’s criminal convictions – which include fraud, theft, perverting the course of justice and three separate stalking charges – date back to 1993 when she ran an art gallery in New York.
In 1995 she was sentenced to six months in Rikers Island prison plus five years’ probation following a fraud over an apartment she was renting and crimes related to the gallery.
During her time on probation, she allegedly committed further offences but she fled the country after a warrant was issued for her arrest.
Damji ended up in South Africa where she more crimes were reported before she was deported.
In the UK, Damji received cautions for theft and obtaining property by deception before she was jailed for three-and-a-half years for 17 offences including thefts and obtaining property by deception as well as perverting justice.
While awaiting trial for offences including stealing credit cards from a nanny and an assistant and going on spending sprees, she posed as an official from the Crown Prosecution Service to contact a witness saying she did not need to attend court in a bid to sabotage the case.
Weeks after being released from jail she began committing further deceptions and in 2010 was jailed for 15 months for a £17,500 housing benefit fraud.
In 2016, Damji was jailed for five years in 2016 for stalking a church warden after they met on an online dating site.
She attended the school of the victim’s son and spoke with the deputy headmaster to ‘make false allegations about the warden abusing vulnerable women’.
Damji then continued to stalk the man and sent emails to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Deputy Metropolitan Police Commissioner and an MP following her arrest.
In 2020 she was sentenced to 27 months in jail for two counts of breaching a restraining order in April 2018 and June 2018.
She was convicted in her absence after fleeing to Ireland during her trial.
During her time in Ireland she lived under the identity of an Icelandic woman before she was finally re-arrested in County Galway in August 2022 and returned to Britain to serve her sentence.
Jailing Damji over her latest offences, Judge Greenberg said: ‘One can only speculate as to the reasons for your behaviour, but what you did to Dr Gould-Davies was callously and deliberately to set about destroying his life and reputation for no better reason than you were able to do so by employing methods with which, from your history, you are experienced.
‘Given your history of committing criminal offences of harassment and dishonesty, one conclusion about your behaviour is that it may be explained by nothing more nor less than wickedness and greed.’
Before Damji was jailed, it was Judge Greenberg who her magazine would set their sights on raising ‘serious concerns’ about her handling of cases.
The View has mounted an ongoing campaign against the ‘dangerous’ judge.
It has launched a petition calling for her to be removed from the bench as she poses ‘a clear and present risk to the rights of women and girls who appear before her’.
Asked why potentially prejudicial material was allowed to be published from inside prison walls by defendants during ongoing trials the Ministry of Justice declined to comment.
The prison service denied the magazine was available in jails and insisted that all prisoners were subject to strict rules.
A spokesperson said: ‘This publication is produced independently, is not written or distributed within the prison estate, and HMPPS does not support its production.
‘Any material written by prisoners must comply with strict rules governing security, public protection and contact with the media.’
