Police hunting for Constance Marten’s baby find child’s ear muffs after scouring bins in fingertip search of allotment
POLICE have recovered a pair of child ear muffs in the search for the missing baby of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon.
The couple were last night arrested in Brighton after a tip-off from a member of the public - and police now fear they may have left their child out in the open.
The couple were located - without their one-month-old baby - on a residential street shortly before 9.30pm and an urgent search continues in the area.
But on Monday a police officer was pictured picking up a pink pair of child's ear muffs from the ground.
They were placed into an evidence bag afterwards.
It is unclear exactly where the ear warmers were recovered but cops have been scouring an allotment near Stanmer Villas in Brighton.
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They have searched bins and been scouring under cars at the allotment in a bid to find the newborn.
Police say they are still hoping the baby is alive and have appealed to anybody who might be looking after the child to come forward.
But Constance and Gordon have so far refused to tell police the sex of their baby.
The couple have been arrested on suspicion of child neglect.
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Miss Marten and Gordon were reported missing after their car broke down near Bolton, Greater Manchester, on January 5.
It's believed before they disappeared, Marten withdrew £15,000 of cash and the pair bought burner phones with multiple sim cards.
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.
It comes as...
- Missing aristocrat Constance Marten & lover Mark Gordon arrested but baby STILL missing
- Mystery over gender of baby as cops test placenta found in car
- Dramatic moment ‘screams’ heard as Constance’s lover restrained on floor during double arrest
- Marten’s father Napier ‘relieved’ aristocrat has been found but ‘alarmed’ her baby is still missing
- Police find child’s ear muffs after searching bins in fingertip search of allotment
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 but are not believed to have sought any medical assistance for the child.
Gordon is a registered sex offender who served 20 years for raping a woman when he was just 14.
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...
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"But as we know, as the temperature drops and the longer the baby goes without parents, the risks are high.”
