Police have found the remains of an infant in the search for the missing baby belonging to arrested couple Constance Marten and Mark Gordon.
The pair's child was thought to be days old when they disappeared in January. Officers have today found the remains of a baby in a wooded area, Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford of the Metropolitan Police said.
Missing former aristocrat Marten, 35, and her partner, Gordon, 48, were arrested on suspicion of child neglect in Brighton on Monday night. Yesterday police also arrested them on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.
Their arrest without the child sparked a massive hunt across a wide area of the Sussex countryside.
Speaking at Sussex Police headquarters tonight, Mr Basford said: "It is my very sad duty to update this afternoon, police officers searching a wooded area close to where Constance and Mark Gordon were arrested, discovered the remains of a baby.
Gangsters ‘call for ceasefire’ after deadly Christmas Eve pub shooting
A CCTV image of Mark Gordon and Constance Marten dated January 7 (PA)"A post-mortem examination will be held in due course. A crime scene is in place and work at the location is expected to continue for some time.
"This is an outcome that myself and that many officers who have been part of this search had hoped would not happen.
"I recognise the impact this news will have on many people who have been following this story closely and can assure them that we will do everything we possibly can to establish what has happened."
Hundreds of police officers and search and rescue experts scoured 90 square miles of the Sussex countryside in a bid to find the baby, who did not have any medical attention since being born in a car in Bolton on January 5.
Constance Marten and her partner Mark Gordon were arrested on Monday (PA)
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon were arrested in Brighton (PA)Metropolitan and Sussex police used helicopters, sniffer dogs, thermal imaging cameras and drones.
Marten, who comes from an aristocratic family with royal connections, first went missing with Gordon when their car was found abandoned and on fire at the edge of the M61 on January 5.
From there they travelled around the country.
Police search an allotment close to Stanmer Villas in Brighton (Adam Gerrard / Daily Mirror)They were arrested in Brighton on Monday, minutes after a member of the public tipped off police, but their baby was not with them.
Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford from the Metropolitan Police gave an update on the search for Constance Marten and Mark Gordon's baby, saying officers "must consider that the baby has come to serious harm".
The couple remain in custody and investigators have applied for a 36-hour extension to hold them for further questioning.
Four human skulls wrapped in tin foil found in package going from Mexico to US
Mr Basford told reporters in Brighton: "This is a hugely difficult and painstaking search operation, covering a vast area of some 90 square miles.
Following the arrests, Constance's father Napier Marten said he was "very alarmed" that the baby remained missing.
He said that he loves his daughter dearly, but it would have been "far better" if she and Gordon handed themselves in earlier.
Police launched a huge search for the baby (Adam Gerrard / Daily Mirror)Mr Napier told the Independent: "For whatever reasons she and her partner went on the run, the consequences of their actions have increased many fold. It would have been far better if they had handed themselves in earlier."
He thanked the member of the public who tipped off police about the couple's whereabouts, as well as Metropolitan police officers for their "dogged investigation".
Mr Marten added: "When the time comes, I am longing to see Constance to reassure her that, whatever the weather, I love her dearly and will support her as best I can through the difficult weeks and months here on in."
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
