Missing couple Constance Marten and Mark Gordon arrested, search for baby continues

Missing couple Constance Marten and Mark Gordon are in police custody after being arrested in Brighton.

Metropolitan police said an urgent search operation was under way to find their baby, who has not had any medical attention since birth in early January.

The force said the pair were located by officers from Sussex police in Stanmer Villas, Brighton on Monday night after a member of the public reported seeing them shortly before 9.30pm.

Marten, 35, and Gordon, 48, have been travelling around the UK by taxi since their car was found burning on the M61 in Bolton, Greater Manchester, on 5 January.

Authorities previously believed the couple had been sleeping rough in a blue tent, and had avoided being traced by the police by moving around frequently and keeping their faces covered from CCTV.

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 8 January.

Marten was a drama student when she first met Gordon in 2016. The couple led an isolated life, and in September, when Marten was well into her pregnancy, began moving around rental flats.

It is unknown if their baby was full-term or has any health issues.