Constance Marten & Mark Gordon arrest: Police fear baby has ‘come to harm’- search for missing child continues

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Constance Marten and Mark Gordon were found and re-arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter on Tuesday - but the baby is still missing.

A desperate search for the baby of heiress Constance Marten and her partner Mark Gordon is continuing into a second day - amid police fears the child may have “come to harm”. The couple were re-arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter on Tuesday (February 28) after being found in Brighton on Monday morning.

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The pair were stopped following several weeks of dodging police as they travelled around the country, with sightings reported in Liverpool, Essex and south London. A member of the public who had seen media reports of the couple dialled 999 after spotting them withdrawing cash from a convenience store in Hollingbury Place.

Police arrived around six minutes later before detaining Marten and Gordon at Stanmer Villas. Since then, hundreds of officers have been searching the surrounding area for the baby and a helicopter, sniffer dogs, thermal imaging cameras and drones have also been deployed.

The area being searched spans seven by 13 miles, from where the couple were last sighted to where they were found and arrested. It includes woodland, allotments and a golf course.

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Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford said police hoped to find the child safe and well but, on confirming Marten and Gordon had been re-arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter, he said officers had to consider the possibility the baby had “come to harm”. He added that officers had received no information about the welfare or location of the child since the pair were detained.

Det Supt Basford said: “We have had a significant period of time in custody facility with both Constance and Mark. At this time we have not furthered that information, which has now obviously led to the position where we feel that the risk is getting so great that we now have to consider the possibility that the baby has come to harm.

“I can now confirm that they have been further arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter and that they remain in custody at police stations in Sussex. The baby was not with them and we have not found the baby as yet.”

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Constance Marten and Mark Gordon in Whitechapel near Adler Street. The couple had been on the run since January 5 and were found and arrested on Monday (February 27).Constance Marten and Mark Gordon in Whitechapel near Adler Street. The couple had been on the run since January 5 and were found and arrested on Monday (February 27).
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon in Whitechapel near Adler Street. The couple had been on the run since January 5 and were found and arrested on Monday (February 27). | Metropolitan Police / SWNS.COM

The search for Marten, 35, and Gordon, 48, began on January 5 after their car was found on fire and abandoned next to the M61 in Bolton. Inquiries revealed that Marten had given birth recently but had not been assessed by medical professionals.

Marten is from a wealthy aristocratic family but has lived an isolated life with Birmingham-born Gordon since she met him in 2016.

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