A post-mortem examination of the baby found dead in Brighton Wood is due to take place today as police try to find out how and when the baby died.
The parents of the newborn Constance Marten, 35, and her fellow convicted rapist Mark Gordon, 48, remain in custody and face further questioning this morning.
Their arrest on Monday ended a nationwide police hunt that began when they absconded seven weeks ago with their newborn. Police detained them on child neglect charges and then on manslaughter charges by gross negligence, but they refused to speak to officers about their secretly born baby.
A postmortem examination will determine how and when the baby died. Police had long feared for the child’s chances of survival due to lack of medical care and sub-zero temperatures and those worst fears were realized yesterday
Yesterday it emerged that the death could have occurred days or weeks ago because the couple was spotted several times without the child.
Metropolitan Police Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford (R) and Sussex Police Chief Superintendent James Collis (L) reveal last night that the child they were looking for has been found dead
Mark Gordon, 48, and Constance Marten, 35, had been missing for 54 days, sleeping rough in a tent
They were seen on CCTV on Feb. 11 entering a fish and chip shop in Brighton, shopping at a convenience store and later visiting food banks, according to locals.
The last person to see the baby alive was on January 7, when the couple got into a taxi in Whitechapel, east London.
Authorities were unaware of the birth until the couple’s car developed an electrical fault and burst into flames on the M61 near Bolton on 5 January, destroying all their belongings.
The couple abandoned the wreck, crossing the country with the baby, who was then just one day old when police officers became increasingly concerned that the baby had not received medical attention.
They traveled by taxi, paying for everything in cash, covering their faces while under surveillance and moving frequently, often after dark.
On Monday night, police finally traced the couple to Brighton following a tip-off. Yesterday a businessman, who declined to be named, said: ‘They have been on CCTV in the area since 11 February.
‘They were seen going into the chippy and Mulberrys (store), and only came out at night.
“Gordon has a wound in his leg and was using the branch of the tree as a walking stick. They have never been seen with the baby, or pushing a pram or anything like that. It’s heartbreaking to think what could have happened to that poor child.”
Days before his arrest, Marten, who comes from a wealthy family with links to the royal family, paid a visit to the Brighton Food Bank.
One worker said they had not asked for anything for a newborn, even though they had ample stocks of diapers and baby food, adding: ‘They received tinned food, bread, pasta, milk and rice. They weren’t registered with us, which is how we usually operate.
: Aristocrat Constance Marten, 35, disappeared with her lover Mark Gordon, 48
A police search party works in a wooded area near where the boy was found
This is runaway aristocrat Constance Marten (right) and her convicted rapist lover Mark Gordon (left) moments before their arrest in Brighton on Monday. Audio of them passing this house revealed that they may have been rowing
“The boy wasn’t with them. We have supplies here, but they haven’t asked for anything for a baby. But they have come to get help for themselves.
“She did the talking and the man stood back with his hood up. He asked for help. She was wearing lots of layers and it looked like she had been out for a while.
“He was checking the area. He pulled away and didn’t want to make eye contact. It was she who spoke. We didn’t take any details, we just gave them food because we thought they needed help.’
Over the past 48 hours, more than 200 police officers and search and rescue experts have scoured 90 square miles of the Sussex countryside in search of the child using helicopters, sniffer dogs, thermal imaging cameras and drones.
Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford, who is leading the investigation for Sussex Police, said last night: ‘It is my sad duty to update that this afternoon, police officers searching a wooded area near where Constance Marten was arrested and Mark Gordon, have discovered the remains of a child.A post-mortem examination will be held in due course.
‘There is a crime scene and work on the site is expected to continue for some time. This is a result that I and the many officers who took part in the search hoped would not occur.’ Last night the couple remained in pre-trial detention after the magistrates accepted the request to extend their detention for a further 36 hours.
Investigations revealed that Marten had given birth in the back of the car before it caught fire and had not been evaluated by any doctors.
She was apparently in tears during the arrest and yelled at officers to “get off” at her lover when he was detained because she was concerned for his mental health.
A passerby claimed he struggled and took 40 minutes to be subdued. Another said he was “very angry” and was yelling. A van of search dogs was seen making its way up the road leading to the allotments which have been the focus of the police search.
Marked police vehicles were stationed along the route and a uniformed officer stood guard down the road.
The wood, which is within a 240-acre nature reserve, is on the direct off-road footpath between Newhaven and Fiveways, the area of Brighton where the pair were arrested on Monday evening.
Marten and Gordon were initially arrested on child neglect charges before being re-arrested the next day on gross negligence manslaughter charges.