CCTV shows moments before police swoop to arrest Constance Marten and rapist partner

Member of public informs police after spotting couple at convenience store

Surveillance footage from a doorbell CCTV camera revealed the activities of aristocrat Constance Marten and her partner Mark Gordon moments before the couple was arrested on Monday night.

The pair could be seen walking past houses at 9.25pm, shortly before they were taken into custody by police in Brighton. In the footage, they both have hoods on and are seemingly carrying bags, as they briskly walked past. Gordon can also be seen carrying a long stick in his hand, apart from the bags.

A member of the public, who had seen media reports about the couple, phoned 999 after seeing them withdraw cash from a convenience store in Hollingbury Place shortly before 9.30pm.

Officers arrived six minutes later, with the couple being detained at nearby Stanmer Villas and arrested on suspicion of child neglect after authorities could not find their baby with them.

An urgent search for the infant is continuing amid police fears the child may have come to harm.

More than 200 officers are searching an area of seven miles by 13 miles for the baby, from where the couple were last sighted to where they were arrested – including allotments and woodland.

Detective superintendent Lewis Basford said police still hoped to find the child safe and well, with a helicopter, sniffer dogs, thermal imaging cameras and drones being used in the search.

Police search teams in Roedale Valley Allotments, West Sussex, where an urgent search operation is underway to find the missing baby of Constance Marten, who has not had any medical attention since birth in early January (PA)

Mr Basford said officers had received no information about the welfare or location of the child since the pair were detained, leading to police having to consider the possibility the baby had “come to harm”.

He also confirmed Ms Marten, 35 and Gordon, 48, had been re-arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.

“We have had a significant period of time in custody facility with both Constance and Mark,” Mr Basford said.

“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.”

A pair of pink children’s earmuffs are collected by a police officer in Roedale Valley Allotments, Brighton, where an urgent search operation is underway to find the missing baby of Constance Marten (PA)

The lengthy police search for Ms Marten and Gordon began on 5 January when their car was found on fire abandoned next to the M61 in Bolton.

Gordon, 48, who it is understood she met in 2016, was jailed in the late 1980s in Florida, US, after raping and assaulting a woman when he was aged 14. After serving a 20-year sentence he was deported back to the UK in 2010.

Inquiries revealed Ms Marten had given birth recently – possibly one or two days before the incident – and had not been assessed by medical professionals.

Greater Manchester police established the family had left the car and the motorway safely.

They used taxis to first travel to Liverpool, then Harwich in Essex and on to east London, before arriving in Sussex on 8 January.

The couple avoided detection by only making payments in cash, hiding their faces on CCTV and often moving around at night or in the early hours of the morning.

Mr Basford said officers are looking into footage shared online of Gordon seen with a stick before he was arrested, adding that there was sufficient intelligence to suggest the pair had spent most of their time in outdoor open spaces while avoiding police.

He conceded the cold weather meant officers had to be open to the investigation not “ending in the way we would like”.

The baby was born in early January and has had no medical attention since then, with its parents sleeping rough in freezing temperatures much of the time.

Mr Basford said police are yet to locate items bought by Ms Marten and Gordon at Argos on 7 January, adding: “We would still say we are actively looking for those.”

Ms Marten’s father said it was a huge relief that his daughter had been found but it was “very alarming” that her baby remains missing.

Napier Marten told The Independent he loves his daughter but it would have been “far better” if she and Gordon had handed themselves in earlier.

Additional reporting from agencies