Police in Brighton have found the body of a two-month-old baby who had been missing since birth in early January, after a two-month search for the infant’s mother ended earlier this week.
Constance Marten, 35, and her boyfriend Mark Gordon, 48, are in custody in the city on suspicion of grossly negligent homicide.
Metropolitan Police Superintendent Louis Basford said Wednesday night: baby. “
Coming from wealthy and aristocratic families, Marten and Gordon seemingly disappeared from the radar last September after the London Borough’s social services department where they lived took notice of the pregnancy.
Gordon, who had served 20 years in a U.S. prison for rape and assault when he was 14, was a registered sex offender and social workers said he was concerned about him being at home. understood.
The couple spent most of the fall and early winter in various Airbnbs across the country, and died on January 5th on the M61 motorway near Bolton, Greater Manchester. It was abandoned and found burning on its stiff shoulders.
Marten is believed to have given birth in a car, and there were concerns that she did not call a local hospital or receive treatment.
Greater Manchester Police have established that the couple and their baby have left the highway and hail a taxi to Liverpool.
They then traveled by taxi to Harwich, Essex and east London.
The couple’s last sighting was in New Haven, East Sussex on 8 January.
It was feared that the two were then on the ground and slept outdoors, possibly in a tent, with their children in the freezing cold of January and February.
He was then arrested on Monday night after being found withdrawing money from a cash machine at a convenience store at Stanmer Villas in Brighton’s northern suburbs.
Marten’s father, Napier Marten, said he was relieved to find her, but said the baby’s disappearance was “extremely disturbing”.
The couple were initially arrested on suspicion of child neglect, but were re-arrested on suspicion of manslaughter through gross negligence as of Tuesday, with still no sign of the baby.
Post-mortem examination awaits
On Wednesday night, Basford said a post-mortem examination would take place “soon.”
It is hoped that pathologists will be able to determine the cause of death, which will influence police and prosecutor’s office decisions regarding the prosecution of Marten and Gordon.
“We are aware of the impact this news will have on the many people who have been following this story closely, and we assure them that we will do all we can to clarify what happened,” Basford said. can.
Police obtained permission from the Brighton magistrate to detain the couple for an additional 36 hours.
Basford urged the media and the public to refrain from speculating on the matter for fear of harming “potential court proceedings”.
Under English law, specifically contempt of courtcannot report anything that could prejudice a person’s trial.
Hundreds of Metropolitan and Sussex police officers, as well as search and rescue volunteers, found the baby’s body while searching 90 square miles of land on the edge of the South Downs near Brighton.
CCTV footage of the couple at Stanmar Villas was released on Monday night.
It showed Gordon walking with a limp and using a large stick.
The couple is believed to have been having a rough life on the Hollingbury golf course and nearby land for the past week.
According to U.S. law enforcement records, Gordon was convicted of kidnapping and sexual assault in Florida.
After his release, he was deported to England.
Gordon is known to have met Marten when he was a drama student in 2016.
PA Media contributed to this report.