Constance Marten – latest news: Court hears baby ‘Victoria’ found with pile of nappies in shed

An aristocrat’s daughter and her partner have been charged with the gross negligence manslaughter of their baby after being arrested in Brighton.

Constance Marten, 35, and her boyfriend Mark Gordon, 48, 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.

The remains of a baby were found on Wednesday after a major two-day search operation in Sussex.

Footage shows the moment police swooped in to arrest Constance Marten and her partner, Mark Gordon.

The couple was found by officers in Brighton following a tip-off from the public.

Remains have been found in an area of woodland following a major search for Constance Marten’s two-month-old baby.

On Wednesday evening, Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford told reporters a baby’s remains had been found close to where Marten and her partner Mark Gordon were arrested on suspicion of child neglect on Monday.

As the investigation continued, police became more concerned the child had come to “serious harm” and the couple were eventually rearrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.

Confirming the discovery at Sussex Police headquarters, DS 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 vigil has been held at a church in Brighton after the remains of a body were found in the search for Constance Marten’s two-month-old baby.

Watch:

Constance Marten and Mark Gordon will appear in court after the remains of a baby were found in a wooded area.

The Metropolitan Police said they have both been charged with gross negligence manslaughter, concealing the birth of a child and perverting the course of justice.

Officers found the body of a baby on Wednesday in the Hollingbury area of Brighton, East Sussex, following a two-day search operation.

The infant is yet to be formally identified and a post-mortem examination is due to take place on Friday.

CCTV footage shows aristocrat Constance Marten and her partner Mark Gordon moments before their arrest on Monday evening (27 February).

The pair can be seen walking past a house at 9.25pm before being taken into custody by police in Brighton.

Ms Marten and Mr Gordon have since been further arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter, with fears growing over their missing baby.

Fifty-three days after going on the run with a newborn baby, missing aristocrat Constance Marten and her boyfriend Mark Gordon were finally caught – with help from a member of the public outside a corner shop.

The couple were recognised by a passer-by thanks to media appeals, and police swooped just six minutes later as they walked up a nearby Brighton street.

“Just after 9.30pm, yesterday [Monday] evening a member of the public – off the back of media reporting of images of the couple – sighted them outside of the Mulberrys convenience store on Hollingbury Place,” Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford told a press conference on Tuesday.

“They saw the couple withdrawing cash and dialled 999. The time between that call being registered and police arriving at the scene was six minutes.”

He described Ms Marten and Gordon as “heavily clothed for outdoor activity” and said they underwent medical checks in custody after being arrested on suspicion of child neglect.

The aristocratic Marten family has dominated headlines in recent weeks after 35-year-old Constance Marten, her newborn baby and partner, 48-year-old Mark Gordon, became the subject of a “high risk” missing person investigation.

Napier Marten had urged his daughter Constance to take herself and the child to safety as soon as possible.

Napier Marten, a film and music producer, is the son of Mary Anna Marten, a British Museum trustee whose godmother was the late Queen Mother, and who used to own the Crichel estate in Dorset.

His father, Toby Marten, a lieutenant commander in the Royal Navy, had close links to the royal family, attending the Brownies pack at Buckingham Palace alongside Princess Margaret in her youth.

The late couple and their family lived at the vast Crichel House – used as the backdrop for several period dramas, including Emma starring Gwyneth Paltrow. The ownership of the house, in the wake of the Second World War, became the centre of a notorious political scandal.

The late couple is survived by five daughters and one son, Napier Marten, who was a Page to Queen Elizabeth II. In 1996 he took a voyage of spiritual discovery in Australia, later returning to work as a tree surgeon near Crichel House.

In 2013 it was reported that the previously 5,000-acre estate would pass instead to his eldest son Maximillian when he turned 25 that year, after the death of Mary Anna in 2010.

The estate was later bought by American billionaire Richard Chilton.

Speaking to The Independent on Tuesday, Mr Marten said that he was relieved that his daughter had been found.

“For whatever reasons she and her partner went on the run, the consequences of their actions have increased many fold. It would have been far better if they had handed themselves in earlier.”