Missing Constance Marten and partner arrested as search launched for her baby
Constance Marten, the daughter of an aristocrat, and her partner Mark Gordon are in police custody after being arrested in Brighton.
Metropolitan Police said an urgent search operation is under way to find their baby, who has not had any medical attention since birth in early January.
Police say the couple were believed to have been walking off the Sussex Downs at around 9.30pm last night when they were seen by a member of the public who called 999.
They rushed to the scene, deploying drones, the force helicopter and dozens of the police officers in a hunt that has continued all night.
Police from both Sussex and the Metropolitan forces are scouring woodland close to Hollingbury Golf Club and the nearby allotments at the top of Golf Drive for evidence of the baby.
They are asking members of the public to search any sheds, garages or outhouses in the hope the baby can be found alive.
It is understood that Marten and Gordon, who were arrested in Brighton last night on suspicion of child neglect, have so far refused to tell police the sex of their baby.
Police said they are still hoping the baby is alive and have appealed to anybody who might be looking after the child to come forward.
DSI Lewis Basford from the Met police said: “We can’t say at this time if it’s a boy or a girl and we are still awaiting test results from the placenta found in their car on the M61.
“At the moment, we are still in the position where they have been arrested on suspicion of child neglect and there is a search for the baby.
“We are looking at open land, outbuildings where they may have placed the baby while they were in the local area before we arrested them.
“There's nothing to say they were in the caravan, we still think they were living in the outdoor environment and the that is leading us, and the arrest location, to the outdoor search.
“I think, we’ve got to keep the hope that maybe they have allowed somebody else to care for the baby who thinks they are doing some good on behalf of the couple but as we know, as the temperature drops and the longer the baby goes without parents the risks are high.”
The force said the pair were located by officers from Sussex Police in Stanmer Villas, Brighton on Monday night after a member of the public reported seeing them shortly before 9.30pm.
Marten, 35, and Gordon, 48, have been travelling around the UK by taxi since their car was found burning on the M61 in Bolton, Greater Manchester, on January 5.
Authorities previously believed the couple had been sleeping rough in a blue tent, and had avoided being traced by the police by moving around frequently and keeping their faces covered in CCTV images.
The couple travelled from Bolton to Liverpool, then to Harwich in Essex, then to east London and then to Newhaven in Sussex, where they were seen near the ferry port on January 8.
Miss Marten, who is from a wealthy aristocratic family, was a promising drama student when she first met Mr Gordon in 2016.
Since then the couple have led an isolated life, and in September, when Miss Marten was well into her pregnancy, began moving around rental flats.
Gordon served 20 years in prison in the US for rape and battery committed when he was 14.
It is unknown if their baby was full-term or has any health issues.
Anyone who may be able to assist in the search for the couple's baby is urged to contact 999.
