Constance Marten police give major update on search for baby and reveal fears after temperature plunged to 1C overnight

POLICE have given a major update on their search for Constance Marten and her lover Mark Gordon’s missing newborn baby.

The couple were last night found by cops in Brighton after 54 days on the run.

However the pair were discovered without their baby - and cops are now desperately searching for the “high risk” tot.

Temperatures in the area last night dropped to 1C - but police say they are still hoping the baby is alive.

DSI Lewis Bashford 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 couple have been arrested on suspicion of child neglect and are being interviewed by police.

Cops have been seen searching under cars and behind bins this morning in a bid to find the newborn.

They have been seen searching the woods behind Stanmer Villas.

And police are asking locals to check their own properties.

DSI Bashford continued: “We are asking the public to remain vigilant in the local areas as they go about their business but also to look at the premises that they own - any outbuildings and their own property.

“Please take five minutes to take a look at those and assist us in the search for the baby.”

Miss Marten and Gordon were reported missing after their car broke down near Bolton, Greater Manchester, on January 5.

The pair ditched their burning car and a nationwide hunt for the three of them began.

They are believed to have spent time sleeping rough and travelling the country using cabs after being spotted buying camping equipment from an East Argos on January 7.

Concerns grew for the missing aristocrat, 35, and her baby, as temperatures across the country plummeted.

Before they were found, the pair were last seen with their baby in Newhaven, East Sussex, on January 9.

CCTV captured images of the hooded pair dumping their child's pram in the port town.

Cops previously said the new mum had given birth in her car days before the pair fled.