Constance Marten baby updates — Investigation enters ‘new phase’ as aristocrat and Mark Gordon charged

Who to contact if you have information

Anyone who may be able to assist in the search for the couple’s baby is urged to contact 999.

Police 'examine baby blanket found in woods'

Cops recovered what is thought to be a baby blanket from the woods.

Pictures from the scene in Brighton, East Sussex, showed clothes strewn across the ground while police inspected burnt items.

The white blanket wasn't placed in an evidence bag.

Marten and Gordon were arrested on Monday evening

That evening, Constance Marten and Mark Gordon were located by police on the residential street shortly before 9.30pm as they were spotted near a convenience store by a member of the public who rang 999.

A witness captured the arrest on video, as he said: "It was very dramatic. I was sitting in my van at the time, about 9.30pm last night. There was a couple in front of me.

"Two police officers, one male and one female, and they approached the couple. They went for the man first, he was struggling and resisting arrest.

"The woman he was with was shouting at the officers and telling them to be careful as he had issues with mental health. A second police car arrived and the back-up officers helped subdue the man. They were kneeling on his back. He was groaning in pain.

" The woman was handcuffed but she was treated much more gently. The man must have resisted arrest for about 40-minutes.

"I was worried because there was about three or four officers trying to subdue him. They were on top of him to stop him from running off."

The pair were arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.

Marten and Gordon looked 'very suspicious'

On Monday evening, CCTV from a house captures the pair walking the streets without their baby as a neighbour told The Sun that they looked "very suspicious."

They walked by her house at 8.40pm with no shopping bags and then returned at 9.25pm carrying two bags of food from a shop.

She said: "I thought it looked very odd for that time of night. Why would a man be carrying a large stick? They were wearing a lot of layers of clothes, as if they’d been out and about for a long time.

"He was shouting. It was yelling. He was very angry. He had this big stick which was random. He was shouting at her. He was animated. They were having an argument.

"Looking back it’s really scary. I’m terrified for that poor baby. There was no sign of a baby when they came by."

Local says he spotted Constance Marten and Mark Gordon on Monday morning

Lee Wright told that he saw Mark Gordon walking toward the Roedale Valley Allotments new Stanmer Villas on Monday morning.

Police deemed the area as a "potential crime scene."

Wright claimed that while he was having a cigarette, he saw a man matching Gordon's appearance walking past with a suitcase.

‘This is a hugely difficult and painstaking search operation’

On Wednesday, Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford from the Metropolitan police spoke to reporters at a press conference in Britghon to give an update on the search for Constance Marten and Mark Gordon’s baby.

He said: “This is a hugely difficult and painstaking search operation, covering a vast area of some 90 square miles. We’re using every resource we have at our disposal to find the baby.”

Constance Marten and Mark Gordon will remain in custody for 36 hours for further questioning.

Mr Basford also said that officers "must consider that the baby has come to serious harm."

Mr Basford urged the public to remain vigilant and for anyone with any information to provide it to the investigation team.

Constance Marten and Mark Gordon visited the Brighton Food Bank last Wednesday

Aristocrat Constance Marten and Mark Gordon were spotted at a Brighton Food Bank days before their arrest, however, they didn't ask for any nappies for their newborn.

Workers only realised that they were the suspects when they saw the news of their arrest for child negligence on Monday night.

One worker said: "They were given tinned food, bread, pasta, milk and rice. They were not registered with us, which is how we usually operate.

"The baby was not with them. We have supplies here but they didn’t ask for anything for a baby. But they came asking for help for themselves.

"She did the talking and the man looked shifty at the back with his hood up. She asked for help. She was wearing a lot of layers and looking back, she looked like she’d been outside for a while.

"He looked shifty. He was checking the area. He stood back and would not make eye contact. She did the talking. We didn’t take any details, we just gave them food because we thought they needed help.

"He was wearing a baseball cap. It was very shifty. I didn’t know about the couple. When I saw their pictures on the news when they had been arrested I thought 'oh, we gave them some food last week'.

"We have a set amount that we give. We are not providing people with every single meal in a single day. It was a very, very quick thing that was done. They asked for some food and we gave them the food and they left."

Timeline of the days before Marten's and Gordon's arrest

The runaway pair wasn't spotted for almost a month, with two events in their timeline happening before February:

• September 2022 - The pair left their home in Eltham, South East London, to begin a nomadic lifestyle
• January 8, 2023 - The pair appear in Newhaven, East Sussex, carrying a blue tent

Marten and Gordon further arrested on 'suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter'

Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford said on Tuesday that police hope to find the baby safe as they're using a helicopter, sniffer dogs, thermal imaging cameras and drones in the ongoing search.

He said: "We have had a significant period of time in the 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."

The search goes on

Dozens of officers from the Metropolitan Police and a team from the London Search and Rescue were scouring the Wild Park Local Nature Reserve which is by the Hollingbury Golf Course in Brighton, East Sussex.

Specialist teams have been searching in the parkland, which is around a mile away from where Constance Marten and Mark Gordon were arrested.

The officers are searching under sticks and logs in the area that is taped off for police on the search for the couple's baby.

The team has been endlessly searching as officers were on shift for at least 14 hours by midday and had covered a distance of 13km.

'This is a hugely difficult and painstaking search operation'

On Wednesday, Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford from the Metropolitan police spoke to reporters at a press conference in Britghon to give an update on the search for Constance Marten and Mark Gordon's baby.

He said: "This is a hugely difficult and painstaking search operation, covering a vast area of some 90 square miles. We're using every resource we have at our disposal to find the baby."

Mr Basford urged the public to remain vigilant and for anyone with any information to provide it to the investigation team.

Police give major update

Police confirmed on Wednesday that they will hold Constance Marten and Mark Gordon in custody for 36 hours.

During a press conference in Brighton, police added that the hunt for the newborn is a "difficult" and "complex" investigation.

They reiterated their concerns that the two-month-old may have "come to serious harm."