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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
World
Olivia Williams

Police cordon off allotments near where Constance Marten and Mark Gordon arrested

Police have cordoned off allotments near to where aristocrat Constance Marten and her boyfriend Mark Gordon were found and arrested.

Miss Marten and her boyfriend Mark Gordon were arrested in Brighton on Monday night (February 27), on suspicion of child neglect after several weeks avoiding the police. A blue forensic tent was in place in Golf Drive, Brighton, which leads to the allotments that were at the centre of the hunt for their baby on Wednesday.

Police later said remains of a baby were found in the area. Several police vans were stationed along Golf Drive, which was blocked off to the public by a cordon made up of orange triangular cones.

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An extensive cordon also covers a woodland area and houses near the allotments.

Five uniformed officers from the Metropolitan Police entered the cordoned off plots near Hollingdean skatepark in Brighton on Thursday morning while two police vans remain at the cordon entrance. Miss Marten, 35, and Mr Gordon, 48, have been travelling around the UK by taxi since their car was found burning on the M61 in Bolton on January 5.

The couple travelled from Bolton to Liverpool, then to Harwich in Essex, then to east London and then to Newhaven in Sussex, where they were seen near the ferry port on January 8. More than 200 officers and specialist search teams scoured the area around Stanmer Villas, where the couple were finally caught after a tip-off from a member of the public.

They were arrested on suspicion of child neglect, and later on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter. The force added it is "imperative" that members of the public refrain from speculation. Det Supt Basford confirmed that Constance Marten and Mark Gordon remain in police custody.

He said: "An application for an extension of their detention for a further 36 hours was sought and granted by Brighton Magistrates Court."

Police officers at a set of allotments in Brighton, East Sussex, near to where remains of a baby have been found (Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire)

Chief Superintendent James Collis from Sussex Police said the announcement will be "heartbreaking" for the local community.

He said: "I would first and foremost like to extend my heartfelt condolences on behalf of Sussex Police to the wider family of the baby at this time. I understand that the conclusion of this search will be heartbreaking for the local community and the wider public who have been impacted by and so supportive of this search and the investigation from the outset.

"I would like to thank again the public, including the member of public whose information led to the arrests, the huge number of people who came forward with information and those that have volunteered to assist with the searches.

"We continue to support the Metropolitan Police as they conduct their investigation and also the wider community as we all come to terms with this tragedy."

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