Constance Marten and Mark Gordon are a British couple who were missing from 5 January 2023, when their car was found abandoned and on fire near Bolton, to 27 February 2023, when they were arrested in Brighton. They went missing with their newborn baby, who was believed to have been born a few days before they went missing. However, when the couple were arrested, they were not with their baby, which triggered a huge search for it, involving over 200 police officers across an area of around from Brighton to Newhaven.
A baby's remains were found on 1 March 2023 in a bag in a shed on an allotment near where the couple were arrested.
Background
Constance Marten was born into an aristocratic family in 1987 and grew up in Crichel House in Dorset. She became estranged from her family in response to her beginning a relationship with Gordon in 2016 whilst Marten was a drama student.
Mark Gordon was born in Birmingham, West Midlands, in 1974, but moved to Florida, United States, with his mother when he was young. In 1989, aged 14, he broke into a neighbour's property and raped her at knifepoint. He was found guilty of "one count of armed kidnapping, four separate counts of armed sexual battery and one count of burglary with a deadly weapon". He served 20 years in prison before being deported back to the UK in 2010.
Search
The couple were sought by police from 5 January 2023, when their car was found abandoned and on fire next to the M61 motorway in Bolton, Greater Manchester. Evidence was discovered that Marten had given birth several days before. The couple then travelled by taxis to Liverpool, then Harwich in Essex, then London and finally to Brighton on 8 January.
More than 100 officers of the Metropolitan Police were involved in the initial search, assisted by the National Crime Agency.
After the couple were found without their baby on 27 February, an extensive search encompassing around of land from Brighton to Newhaven involving over 200 officers, helicopters, sniffer dogs, drones and thermal cameras took place. A baby's remains were found almost 48 hours after the search began, having been wrapped in a plastic bag and hidden inside a shed on an allotment.
Arrest
The couple were found and arrested in Hollingbury, Brighton, on 27 February. On 1 March, the remains of a baby believed to be theirs and to have died weeks earlier was found. It was revealed on 3 March that the baby had been wrapped in a plastic bag and hidden inside a shed on an allotment near to where the couple were arrested.
On 3 March, the couple appeared before Crawley Magistrates' Court, charged with manslaughter, concealing the birth of a child and perverting the course of justice. During the court appearance, it was revealed that their baby was a girl named Victoria. They were both remanded in custody, and appeared at Central London's Old Bailey on 31 March.
Reactions
On 2 March at 6 p.m., a candlelight vigil was held for baby Victoria at St Mary Magdalene's Church in Coldean, Brighton .
A spontaneous memorial was made on the corner between Stanmer Villas and Golf Drive, near to where Victoria was found.