March 2 (UPI) — Officers searching for the missing baby of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon have found remains of an infant in a wooded area in Southern Britain near where the couple were arrested earlier this week, authorities said.
The remains were found Wednesday afternoon as hundreds of officers and K-9 units with assistance of helicopters, drones and thermal imaging cameras scoured a 90-square-mile area near Brighton, located along Britain’s southern shore on the English Channel.
Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford from Metropolitan Police said in a statement that a post-mortem examination will be held soon and the location where the remains were found has been designated a crime scene and is expected to remain one for some time.
“This is an outcome that myself and the many officers who have been part of the search had hoped would not happen,” Basford said. “I recognize the impact this news will have on the many people who have been following this story closely, and can assure them that we will do everything we possibly can to establish what has happened.”
Police found the remains after Marten, the 35-year-old daughter of aristocrat and film and music producer Napier Marten, and Gordon, 48, were arrested at around 9:30 p.m. Monday in Stanmer Villas without their newborn child following a member of the public spotting them at a store.
The pair were initially arrested on suspicion of child neglect but were later further charged with gross negligence manslaughter.
Police had been looking for the trio since early this year after a car was found ablaze on the shoulder of the M61 highway in Bolton, which is north of Manchester and some 270 miles northwest of Brighton, on the afternoon of Jan. 5.
An investigation revealed Gordon and Marten were the occupants of the vehicle, which they had abandoned a day or two after it is believed that Marten gave brith either inside or near the vehicle without either her nor the infant receiving medical attention.
A missing person’s investigation was launched as police made repeated appeals to the couple to contact the authorities in an effort to ensure their and their child’s welfare. A $12,000 reward was offered to the public for information that would lead to their whereabouts.
Police said that after leaving the car, the trio traveled to Liverpool and then to Harwich and later London where they were seen exiting a taxi with an orange carrier bag and a pram on Jan. 7.
That evening, Gordon bought two large bags of items, including a tent, two sleeping bags and pillows, from a store, igniting worry from police that they were planning to camp outside in winter weather.
They were last seen early Jan. 8 sheltering from rain under a bridge in Newhaven before walking into fields carrying a number of bags and their blue tent.