Christmas inside Britain’s most notorious women’s prison: From Lucy Letby’s deluge of gifts to Constance Marten’s whinging, insiders tell TOM RAWSTORNE the jaw-dropping reality of life inside

For the 500 or so inmates at HMP Bronzefield, the quality of the food is a constant source of dissatisfaction.

Portion size, the temperature of the meals and the fact that there’s not enough fresh fruit and vegetables are regular gripes.

And among the complainants Constance Marten, the aristocrat jailed earlier this year for killing her baby while on the run from police, has been one of the most vociferous.

‘It’s almost as if she’s in a restaurant and is surprised about how poor the standards are,’ a source told the Daily Mail.

‘It’s like she doesn’t seem to understand where she is – that this is a prison.’

So quite how Marten – who is serving a 14-year sentence after being convicted of gross negligence manslaughter in July – and her fellow inmates will react to the fare on offer over the festive period only time will tell.

On Christmas Day, residents of the high security Surrey jail will be able to choose between a traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings or a halal chicken leg.

Should they wish to avoid meat, a vegan wellington is on offer instead. For afters, there’s Christmas pudding or Yule log with ice cream.

Of course, for someone from the circles that Marten was raised in – her grandfather was equerry to George VI and her father, Napier, a page to Queen Elizabeth II – the menu, like the surroundings, is in stark contrast to her privileged upbringing.

‘I imagine she’ll find it very tough,’ a family friend told the Daily Mail last night. ‘How could she not? No doubt she’ll think back to the wonderful, happy, generous family Christmases all together at home in happier times and long to be back there.

‘There’s so little stimulation in prison and I imagine that is what she will find hardest. But Constance being Constance, no doubt she will do her best not to let her true feelings show or give anything away to anyone else.’

But at least over the Christmas period, Marten can find an outlet for one of her hobbies – singing. Pimlico Opera, a company which works with prisons and schools, will be visiting the site for a workshop where they will give singing lessons, mince pies and chocolates to any inmates who feel like partaking.

And at Bronzefield there is no shortage of potential performers with time on their hands.

Europe’s biggest women’s jail, its roll-call includes some of the country’s most high-profile convicts, often facing decades inside.

Also held alongside Marten on House Block Four – where each en-suite cell has its own shower – are Lucy Letby and Beinash Batool.

Letby is serving 15 whole life orders after being convicted of murdering seven babies and trying to murder another seven at the Countess of Chester Hospital. (There were two attempts to murder one of the children.)

Constance Marten was jailed earlier this year to carry out a 14-year sentence for killing her baby while on the run from police

Lucy Letby is serving 15 whole life orders after being convicted of murdering seven babies and trying to murder another seven at the Countess of Chester Hospital

Batool was handed a minimum 33-year sentence for the murder of her ten-year-old stepdaughter Sara Sharif.

But while Letby and Batool are said to have formed an uneasy alliance, Marten has so far chosen not to socialise with either of them. Sources at the jail say that the 38-year-old largely keeps herself to herself, choosing as entertainment puzzles and colouring books in her cell. On occasion she has put her private school education to use, helping other inmates to read and write.

Residents on House Block Four mainly consist of women serving life sentences as well as so-called ‘vulnerable prisoners’, such as paedophiles, known as ‘nonces’, and child killers.

That being said, Letby’s image has dramatically changed from when she was first convicted in 2023. Earlier this year her legal team passed a dossier of evidence prepared by a group of international medics challenging her convictions to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC).

While the panel’s claims and conclusions have been dismissed by lawyers for the families of Letby’s victims, if the CCRC believes there may have been a miscarriage of justice, it can refer her case to the Court of Appeal.

Sources say that the doubts raised about her case have seen the 35-year-old viewed increasingly sympathetically – both inside and outside Bronzefield.

Indeed, with Christmas approaching, the support for Letby from the general public has become a minor headache for prison bosses.

Letters and gifts sent to the prison, which is privately run by Sodexo, have to be individually checked by staff.

Letby’s mailbag is so big that last December prison officers reportedly would not allow them all to be delivered to her.

Mum-of-two Sarah Thomas, who runs a popular Facebook group dedicated to the case, is among the former nurse’s supporters. ‘Last Christmas there were so many cards and letters they didn’t accept them all,’ she said. ‘Instead her lawyer read messages out to her on the phone, which he thought at least would give her some comfort that people are thinking about her.

‘There is even more interest in this case now so I think she will be inundated this Christmas. I have Christmas cards, a few little gifts, and a birthday card for the beginning of January because it is her birthday then.’

Presents sent to Letby include Disney toys, music CDs and writing paper and pens.

A former inmate told the Daily Mail: ‘There is a lot of support for Lucy in prison now. I don’t know if she is guilty or not but it’s very difficult to meet and talk to her and then balance that against the crimes she’s supposed to have committed.

‘She spends a lot of time working on her case, reading and praying. I assume she’s religious – although some people simply attend services for the peace and quiet that you get.

‘Of course, when she was found guilty a lot of the women inmates were very anti. But that has changed now with prison officers and other staff appearing supportive of her situation.’

While life at Bronzefield can undoubtedly be challenging – a report published last week by the Independent Monitoring Board found that there was, on average, an incidence of violence between inmates recorded every single day – insiders say a particular effort is made at Christmas to break up the normal routine.

‘Christmas is quite a good time,’ said the former inmate.

‘There’s a very definite change in atmosphere and on Christmas Day itself there are games like bingo and karaoke. The Christmas dinner isn’t anything great but it’s as good as you’ll get in a prison.

‘The inmates will have already made their orders for this – they use a pod, like a mini computer, that is in all the cells.’

The average cost of keeping a prisoner at Bronzefield is a shade over £100,000 a year – and despite Marten’s complaints about the food, standards are felt to be relatively good.

As a source told The Sun newspaper: ‘A lot more money is spent on female jails as there are less of them. It [Bronzefield] is a private jail and is cushy by prison standards all year round. But it is even easier for them at Christmas.

‘And do-gooders and charities do more for them as they view the inmates as victims – although most of the staff don’t feel the same. Bronzefield holds some of the worst child murderers in the country – and in December it looks like a top-of-the-line care home.’

HMP Bronzefield is Britain’s first purpose-built prison for women. The average cost of keeping a prisoner there is a shade over £100,000 a year

A source told The Sun newspaper: ‘A lot more money is spent on female jails as there are less of them. It [Bronzefield] is a private jail and is cushy by prison standards all year round’

Alongside the special menu and Christmas games, staff print out TV guides so inmates can plan their festive viewing.

This is good news for Letby, who has a reputation among inmates as something of a ‘foodie’ and is said to be a huge fan of TV’s Come Dine With Me, binge-watching the reality show every weekend.

The Channel 4 programme is part of a Freeview package she is entitled to as an ‘enhanced’ inmate, a status she has earned due to good behaviour.

As for brightening up the cells, prisoners are able to take part in workshops to create home-made decorations. To allow them to keep in touch with loved ones, they are provided with free Christmas cards to send.

For Marten, that could prove something of a thorny issue, having been banned from communicating with her long-term partner, Mark Gordon, alongside whom she was convicted.

The couple met in 2016 after he returned from America, where he had moved with his mother as a child. At the age of 14, while living in Florida, Gordon broke into a neighbour’s house and raped her, serving 20 years in jail before being deported back to Britain.

He and Marten went on to have five children together. Four were taken into care. After Marten fell pregnant with the fifth, the couple went on the run, prompting a nationwide manhunt.

During their trials, it became evident that the couple remained devoted to one another. But since her conviction, Marten has been banned from communicating with him. ‘Constance is still very much in love with Mark Gordon,’ said the former inmate. ‘She had a picture of him in her cell and she would talk about him a lot, saying that he was always very kind and gentle and misunderstood.

‘She would often talk about how unfair it was that she wasn’t allowed to speak to him or have any contact with him. She seemed to be fairly confused about that and was often asking the staff why that was. But they would just refer her to the Governor saying there was nothing they could do about it.’ Marten’s communications with her four children in care were also restricted.

But it is understood that, after numerous complaints, she is now allowed to send them cards at birthdays and Christmas.

As for her wider family, during court proceedings it emerged that since meeting Gordon, Marten had been estranged from both her father Napier and mother, Virginie de Selliers. Her parents separated when she was a child.

Mrs de Selliers, 65, attended a number of the Old Bailey court hearings, only to be pointedly blanked by her daughter.

But the Daily Mail can reveal that there has been something of a rapprochement since Marten was sentenced in September, with Mrs de Selliers now having paid at least one visit to her daughter at Bronzefield. Despite prisoners being allowed five visits a month, no such olive branch has been extended to her father.

He applied to visit his daughter but was turned down. Letters from Mr Marten, 66, have also gone unanswered.

‘He has written to her, not to admonish her but just to reiterate how serious the position was in which she now found herself and that she really should think on it,’ the family friend said.

‘She is facing almost a decade in prison. But at the same time he has repeatedly told her he will always stand by her. He wrote too about how delighted he was to have won a prize for a book of poetry and asked, as a way of trying to get some sort of response, if she would like a copy. ‘Sadly he has ‘not heard a sausage’ back, as he puts it.’

The friend added: ‘Napier doesn’t blame her for this. He knows she loves him and he loves her. But he believes she is probably not keen to see him through some acute sense of shame and embarrassment.

‘He knows she blames him for helping to take her children away. Subsequent events only proved that to be the right course of action, though.’

Intriguingly, the Daily Mail understands that Mr Marten has also contacted Gordon’s lawyers asking if he could be allowed to visit him in prison too.

The friend said: ‘At the end of the day Gordon’s children with Constance are his grandchildren and he wants them all to have some sort of future relationship however strange that might seem to others. He feels the greatest compassion for Gordon and the predicament he is now in.

‘He would like to be reassured he has acknowledged that to himself and will change his conduct in future and not continue to follow a life blighted by crime.’

Contacted by the Daily Mail, Mr Marten would only say: ‘I am of course always open to a reconciliation. She is my daughter and I will always love her. I hope she knows that in her heart.’

Alone in her cell at Christmas, a time when families traditionally reunite, it is something that Marten will have plenty of time to think about.

No doubt Lucy Letby will have plenty to contemplate too.

Additional reporting: Simon Trump