The body of a baby has been found after an urgent hunt for Constance Marten and Mark Gordon’s child.
Speaking at a press conference at Sussex Police HQ, Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford said: ‘It is my very sad duty to update this afternoon, police officers searching a wooded area close to where Constance and Mark Gordon were arrested, discovered the remains of a baby.
‘A post-mortem examination will be held in due course. A crime scene is in place and work at the location is expected to continue for some time.
‘This is an outcome that myself and that many officers who have been part of this search had hoped would not happen.
‘I recognize the impact this news will have on many people who have been following this story closely and can assure them that we will do everything we possibly can to establish what has happened.’
Police have asked members of the public to refrain from speculation.
An investigation was launched when the couple vanished on January 5, after their child was born in a car in Bolton.
Their vehicle was found abandoned and on fire at the edge of the M61.
The pair managed to evade police for 54 days, paying for everything in cash and covering their faces when on CCTV.
It’s believed they were living rough in a tent amid cold temperatures, and they were spotted in Liverpool, Essex, south London and East Sussex.
Police became increasingly concerned as they believe the child hasn’t received medical attention since their birth.
Marten and Gordon were finally located in Brighton on February 27 after a tip-off from a member of the public.
Their baby was not with them and they were arrested on suspicion of child neglect.
Immediately after, around two hundred officers launched an urgent hunt covering some 90 square miles to find the child.
Metropolitan and Sussex police used helicopters, sniffer dogs, thermal imaging cameras and drones, and worked through the night.
The following day, the parents were further arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.
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Police warned that they believed that the child must have ‘come to serious harm’.
Marten comes from an aristocratic family with royal connections.
On Tuesday her father, Napier Marten, expressed his immense relief that she had been found, but said he remained alarmed that the baby was missing.
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