Large-scale police search for newborn baby after missing couple Constance Marten and Mark Gordon arrested
More than 200 officers are searching for a newborn baby, after a missing mother and her partner were found and arrested.
Sussex Police said that Constance Marten and Mark Gordon were spotted in Brighton by a member of the public just before 9.30pm on Monday.
They were arrested on suspicion of child neglect and are in police custody, but their baby is still missing.
“Whilst we hold hope that baby is still alive, we agree that the risk to the baby is extremely high,” police said.
Mark Gordon and Constance Marten
Police officers are urgently searching the Roedale Valley Allotments in Brighton, and surrounding woodland near Golf Drive, a road up from the allotment.
Sky correspondent Sabah Choudhry reported that two police forces were searching the area. Special officers are also hunting for the baby, which is believed to be around two months old.
Officers have appealed for members of the public to remain “vigilant” in areas of open land or check any outbuildings they may have on their property.
Police search Roedale Valley Allotments, Brighton
Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford told Sky News: “We are currently looking into all available areas that the baby could be in the open land.
“That will include the search of outbuildings and anywhere the baby could have been left by the couple to seek shelter away from the climate and extreme temperatures.
“The search will include every facility in this location, going out into the open land to try and locate the baby.”
DSI Basford said no further information on where the baby may be located has been gained from questioning the couple, while they remain in custody.
Aerial shots of Roedale Valley Allotments
“I have always remained hopeful that the child is alive, and the investigation we have led is all about the safe recovery and location of the baby,” he added.
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CCTV breakthrough suggests couple ‘sleeping in tent’
Speaking to The Independent, Marten’s father, Napier Marten, said it was “an immense relief” to know the couple have been found, but it would have been “far better if they had handed themselves in earlier”.
He added that it was “very alarming news her baby has yet to be found”.
Marten, 35, and Gordon, 48, were reported missing after their car broke down near junction four of the M61, near Bolton, on Thursday 5 January.
Over the following days, there were sightings of them in a number of places, including Liverpool, Essex, south London and East Sussex.
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 search teams in Golf Drive, Brighton
Police in an area of woodland next to Golf Drive
In the days after they went missing, DSI Basford said the baby was “at the heart of the investigation” and that concerns were rising “day by day” for the child’s wellbeing.
Shereen Nimmo, director of midwifery for Barts Health NHS Trust, also issued an appeal urging the couple to bring the baby in for checks.
Marten, who is from a wealthy family, has lived an isolated life with Gordon since they met in 2016.
UK
Urgent letter to home secretary over violence against women and girls strategy – as it omits child abuse
Ten child protection organisations have written an urgent letter to the home secretary expressing concern about the omission of child sexual abuse from the government’s violence against women and girls strategy, following a Sky News report.
Groups including the NSPCC, Barnardo’s and The Children’s Society wrote to Yvette Cooper to say that violence against women and girls (VAWG) and child sexual abuse are “inherently and deeply connected”, suggesting any “serious strategy” to address VAWG needs to focus on child sexual abuse and exploitation.
The letter comes after Sky News revealed an internal Home Office document, titled Our draft definition of VAWG, which said that child sexual abuse and exploitation is not “explicitly within the scope” of their strategy, due to be published in September.
Poppy Eyre when she was four years old
Responding to Sky News’ original report, Poppy Eyre, who was sexually abused and raped by her grandfather when she was four, said: “VAWG is – violence against women and girls. If you take child sexual abuse out of it, where are the girls?”
The Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse, which is funded by the Home Office and a signatory to the letter, estimates 500,000 children in England and Wales are sexually abused every year.
The NSPCC “welcome” the government’s pledge to halve VAWG in a decade, but is “worried that if they are going to fulfil this commitment, the strategy absolutely has to include clear deliverable objectives to combat child sexual abuse and exploitation too”, the head of policy, Anna Edmundson, told Sky News.
Poppy is a survivor of child sexual abuse
She warned the government “will miss a golden opportunity” and the needs of thousands of girls will be “overlooked” if child sexual abuse and exploitation is not “at the heart of its flagship strategy”.
The government insists the VAWG programme will include action to tackle child sexual abuse, but says it also wants to create a distinctive plan to “ensure those crimes get the specialist response they demand”.
“My message to the government is that if you’re going to make child sexual abuse a separate thing, we need it now,” Poppy told Sky News.
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Rape Crisis, which is one of the largest organisations providing support to women in England and Wales, shares these concerns.
It wants plans to tackle child sexual abuse to be part of the strategy, and not to sit outside it.
“If a violence against women and girls strategy doesn’t include sexual violence towards girls, then it runs the risk of being a strategy for addressing some violence towards some females, but not all,” chief executive Ciara Bergman said.
A Home Office spokesperson said the government is “working tirelessly to tackle the appalling crimes of violence against women and girls and child sexual exploitation and abuse, as part of our Safer Streets mission”.
“We are already investing in new programmes and introducing landmark laws to overhaul the policing and criminal justice response to these crimes, as well as acting on the recommendations of Baroness Casey’s review into group-based Child Sexual Exploitation, and the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse,” they added.
UK
Man and boy arrested on suspicion of arson after restaurant fire leaves two in critical condition
A 54-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy have been arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life after a restaurant fire in east London on Friday.
Three people were taken to hospital in a life-threatening condition after the fire at the Indian Aroma in Ilford.
Two remained in a critical condition on Sunday morning, according to the Metropolitan Police.
The restaurant suffered extensive damage in the blaze.
Two further victims are thought to have left the scene before officers arrived, Scotland Yard said.
Woodford Avenue from above. Pic: UK News and Pictures
Police are still trying to identify them.
CCTV footage seen by the PA news agency appears to show a group of people wearing face coverings walk into the restaurant and pour liquid on the floor.
Seconds later, the inside of the restaurant is engulfed in flames.
“While we have made two arrests, our investigation continues at pace so we can piece together what happened on Friday evening,” said the Met Police’s DCI Mark Rogers.
“I know the community [is] concerned and shocked by this incident.
The moment the fire broke out.
“I would urge anyone with any information or concerns to come forward and speak to police.”
Hospital porter Edward Thawe went to help after hearing screams from his nearby home.
He described the scene as “horrible” and “more than scary and the sort of thing that you don’t want to look at twice.”
He said: “I heard screaming and people saying they had called the police.”
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The 43-year-old said he saw a woman and a severely burned man who may have been customers.
Another witness, who did not want to be named, said he saw three “severely burned” people being doused by the emergency services and given oxygen.
“I can only imagine the pain they were going through,” he said.
On Saturday, the London Ambulance Service told Sky News: “We sent resources to the scene, including ambulance crews, an advanced paramedic, an incident response officer and paramedics from our hazardous area response team.
“We treated five people for burns and smoke inhalation. We took two patients to a major trauma centre and three others to local hospitals.”
The police investigation is continuing.
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