Constance Marten’s lover ‘spotted carrying a suitcase’ hours before couple arrested by cops who are searching for baby | The Sun

CONSTANCE Marten’s lover Mark Gordon was spotted “carrying a suitcase” just hours before the couple were arrested, witnesses say.

The couple were discovered by cops in Brighton on Monday night – without their newborn baby – after 54 days on the run.

The runaway pair were arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter as the search for their missing baby continues.

They were located alone on a residential street shortly before 9.30pm sparking the urgent hunt.

The pair were then discovered when members of the public alerted police after recognising the pair from police media appeals.

CCTV captured from a house showed the pair walking the streets without their baby moments before their arrest.

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Now a local has realised he saw Gordon a few hours prior – in an area police yesterday deemed a “potential crime scene”.

Lee Wright, 29, told The Times he spotted the 48-year-old walking towards the Roedale Valley Allotments near Stanmer Villas on Monday morning.

He claims he was having a cigarette when a man matching Gordon’s appearance walked past with a suitcase.

Yesterday police admitted there is a "possibility the baby has come to harm" during the couple's seven weeks on the run.

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At the allotments police were seen photographing an oil drum used to burn rubbish and took fingerprints at the plots.

A police officer was also pictured picking up a pink pair of child ear muffs from the ground.

They were placed into an evidence bag afterwards.

At Tuesday's press conference, a Met Police spokesman, speaking alongside Sussex Police, said that cops still do not know the gender of the baby.

It comes as…

• Moment police swooped on aristocrat Constance Marten’s boyfriend revealed
• Mark Gordon seen with big stick as couple caught on CCTV arguing WITHOUT baby
• Police further arrested couple on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter as cops search for their baby

A former police detective told Sky News this may suggest Marten and Gordon are not answering questions in custody.

Police are continuing a desperate search across 91-square miles of East Sussex for the missing baby.

This morning a heavy police presence remained at the scene near Stanmer Villas.

A red search dogs van was seen making its way into the adjoining Golf Drive, which leads to the allotments that have been a focus of the police search.

A number of marked police vehicles were stationed along Golf Drive and a uniformed officer stood guard at the bottom of the road.

Marten and Gordon left their home in Eltham, South East London, sometime in September 2022, and began a nomadic lifestyle.

Before they vanished, it is thought Marten withdrew £15,000 of cash from an ATM.

The couple's car was found on fire on January 5 on the M61 near Bolton, Lancashire – it is thought Constance gave birth in the vehicle or near it in the days surrounding the incident.

They were then spotted on CCTV at various locations across Liverpool, London, Essex and East Sussex.

Following the pair's disappearance, police told how the aristocrat became estranged from her family after meeting Gordon when she was a drama student in 2016.

The daughter of Napier Martin, a former page to the Queen, and granddaughter of Mary Anna Marten, whose godmother was the Queen Mother,

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Constance comes from a family of wealthy landowners.

She was deemed an 'it girl' when she appeared on upmarket mag Tatler's babe of the month page while she was a student in 2008.

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