A missing aristocrat and her partner have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter as a major search continues for their missing baby.
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon have refused to tell police where the two-month-old infant is, or if the baby has come to harm, since being arrested after a member of the public spotted them outside a Brighton corner shop.
As hundreds of police officers started to comb a 91-square mile corridor of open land where the child could have been abandoned, Ms Marten’s father told The Independent his relief at the news she had been found safe was tempered by the “very alarming” concerns about her child.
“For whatever reasons she and her partner went on the run, the consequences of their actions have increased manyfold,” Napier Marten added.
“It would have been far better if they had handed themselves in earlier.
“When the time comes, I am longing to see Constance to reassure her that, whatever the weather, I love her dearly and will support her as best I can through the difficult weeks and months here on in.”
Ms Marten, 35, and Gordon, 48, were originally arrested on suspicion of child neglect when police swooped as they walked along a quiet Brighton street on Monday night – minutes after a passer-by recognised the couple from media coverage as they used a cashpoint.
But they were rearrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter on Tuesday afternoon as fears mounted for the survival of their missing child in freezing temperatures.
The senior investigating officer, Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford, told the press conference: “We feel the risk is getting so great that we have to consider the possibility that the baby has come to harm.”
He said that police “retain hope that the baby is found safe and well,” but added: “As time progresses, with the weather closing in as it is and the impact the cold would have on a baby, the risk is getting higher and this may not end in the way that we like.”
More than 200 officers have so far been deployed to search allotments, woods and open spaces near where the couple were arrested on the outskirts of Brighton.
The couple are believed to have travelled there on foot from the Sussex port of Newhaven, where they were last spotted on 8 January before disappearing into fields.
Investigators have identified a “corridor” measuring 7 miles by 13 miles where they could have walked, and are appealing to members of the public for any information or potential sightings that could narrow down the search.
A helicopter, sniffer dogs, thermal imaging cameras and drones are being used to assist officers combing through undergrowth.
Ms Marten and Gordon are believed to have been sleeping rough, potentially in a tent or in outbuildings, while trying to avoid detection.
They had been on the run for 53 days before being caught, with the investigation starting on 5 January started after their car was found on fire and abandoned on the hard shoulder of the M61 in Bolton.
The couple used taxis to travel to Liverpool, Harwich in Essex and London in the following two days, before reaching Sussex.
Ms Marten, who is from a wealthy aristocratic family, was a promising drama student when she first met Gordon in 2016.
Since then the couple has led an isolated life, and in September, as Ms Marten’s pregnancy progressed, began moving around rental flats.
Det Supt Basford told the press conference the couple had gone to “great lengths” to hide Ms Marten’s pregnancy and avoid her giving birth under the care of health authorities.
He said that after going on the run, the newborn baby had been hidden from sight inside Ms Marten’s coat, and that taxi drivers had only been able to see the shape of the infant moving and hear it crying during journeys in early January.
Asked whether they may have given the baby to someone else to look after, Det Supt Basford said the “main line of enquiry” remained that they had stayed with the child.
“At no point have we seen in the short period of CCTV we have that they allowed others to have the baby,” he added.
“We cannot rule out that along that journey they have taken they have found someone who is likeminded or does not conform to the law enforcement aims of trying to protect that baby, and may have used the cash reserves we know they had to offer it for safe lodging.”
Police said the couple were “heavily clothed for outdoor activity” when they were arrested, but have not yet recovered their tent or other belongings. Investigators are continuing to offer a £10,000 reward for information.
