Urgent search for missing baby after Constance Marten and Mark ...

The pair were located by officers from Sussex Police in Stanmer Villas, Brighton after a member of the public reported seeing them shortly before 9.30pm. The baby was not located with them.

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

Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford told BBC Breakfast the search is across a vast area, and Marten, 35, and Gordon, 48, are not divulging details about the baby’s location.

“We are looking in the vicinity where the couple were arrested last night, seeking a shelter or location where they may have been holed up and hopefully where the baby is.

“At this time we’ve got no information from the inquiries we’ve had since arrest that are leading us to where the baby is.

“We’re certainly working on the premise that the arrest location was close to open land and the couple were moving towards open land, and that’s why we are focusing heavily on where we are now.”

Police in Brighton search for a missing baby after Constance Marten and her partner Mark Gordon were arrested yesterday

Mr Basford urged anyone living in the search area to check sheds and outbuildings.

He told Sky News the police are interested in locations including the South Downs, Newhaven, where the couple was previously spotted, and Seaford.

“I have always remained hopeful that the child is alive, and the investigation we have led is all about the safe recovery of the baby,” he said.

Marten and Gordon have been travelling around the UK by taxi since their car was found burning on the M61 in Bolton, Greater Manchester, on January 5, prompting police to issue a series of appeals for sightings and information.

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 in CCTV images.

Police feared that the newborn baby – less than a week old at the time on January 7 – has been exposed to sub-freezing cold temperatures in a tent.

The couple were often seen carrying bags and catching taxis

Five days ago police issued a fresh appeal for information while a midwife urged the pair to seek medical help for the baby.

At the time Det Supt Basford said detectives had been “working around the clock behind the scenes” and had viewed more than 630 hours of CCTV and received more than 350 calls from the public.

Director of midwifery for Barts Health NHS Trust Shereen Nimmo had a direct message for the couple: “I am not here to judge you but here to help you and your baby. All we want to do is help you.”

Police said CCTV footage showed the couple carrying lots of bags near petrol stations and at one point, Gordon buying a tent and camping equipment.

Police established the pair went to Argos on Whitechapel Road, in east London, on January 7 to buy the gear.

Gordon went inside the store alone and bought two big bags full of items, paying in cash, including a blue two-man tent, two sleeping bags and two pillows.

He and Miss Marten then spent slightly more than three hours walking around the Whitechapel Road area. They tried to flag down three black cabs, but were refused.

The couple then left the area on foot and were seen walking along Brick Lane, towards Bethnal Green Road.

Constance Marten and Mark Gordon

The couple travelled from Bolton to Liverpool, then to Harwich in Essex, then to east London and then to Newhaven in East Sussex, where they were seen near the ferry port on January 8.

Miss Marten, who is from a wealthy aristocratic family, was a promising drama student when she first met Gordon in 2016.

Since then the couple have led an isolated life, and in September, when Miss Marten was well into her pregnancy, began moving around rental flats.

Investigators said that in the months before they vanished they built up a significant amount of cash and used it to pay for places to stay and taxis around the country.

Gordon served 20 years in prison in the US for rape and battery committed when he was 14. The conviction relates to a Florida attack on a woman in her early 20s. He was deported back to the UK in 2010.

Miss Marten’s father, film and music producer Napier Marten, was a former page to the late Queen.

He called on officers to look into the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos, where he said his daughter lived for six months under TB Joshua, a pastor he believes to be a “phoney prophet”.

After returning, Mr Marten added his daughter spoke about experiencing paranormal activity which became “quite scary”.

Constance Marten

Miss Marten’s mother Virginie de Selliers also made emotional appeals for her daughter’s safe return.

Issuing an emotional open letter to her daughter, she wrote: “You have made choices in your personal adult life which have proven to be challenging, however, I respect them. I know that you want to keep your precious newborn child at all costs.

“With all that you have gone through this baby cannot be removed from you but instead needs looking after in a kind and warm environment.

“I want to help you and my grandchild. You deserve the opportunity to build a new life, establish a stable family and enjoy the same freedoms that most of us have.”

Miss Marten grew up in Crichel House, a Dorset estate and her grandmother was a playmate of Princess Margaret.

Police gaurd a shed on allotments in Brighton

A £10,000 reward had been offered for information leading police to the family.

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

Anyone who may be able to assist in the search for the couple’s baby is urged to contact 999.