The bones of a newborn were discovered nearby where the couple was eventually located, according to evidence presented in court Friday, and the couple who went missing and spurred a statewide hunt in England were ordered to remain in detention.
Constance Marten, 35, and Mark Gordon, 48, are accused of hiding the birth of a child, gross negligence manslaughter, and perverting the course of justice. Around 48 kilometers south of London, in Crawley Magistrate’s Court, they made their initial court appearance on Friday.The couple spoke only to confirm their names, birth dates and that neither had a permanent address. Gordon had a gray sweater over his head throughout the hearing. Their next court appearance is scheduled for March 31 at Central London Criminal Court.
Marten and Gordon were arrested Monday in Brighton on the south coast of England. Authorities had been searching for them since Jan. 5, when their burning car was found beside a highway in northwestern England. Marten was believed to have given birth shortly before she disappeared.
Authorities revealed at the court on Friday that the baby’s body was located inside a plastic bag that contained some diapers and was found in a garden shed north of Brighton. During a two-day search by hundreds of police officers assisted by search and rescue teams, dogs, drones, and thermal imaging cameras, the terrible find was made. The reason of death and the child’s gender have not yet been established by the authorities.
criminal negligence Manslaughter entails careless actions that a sane person would have recognized as obviously posing a risk of death to a person to whom they owed a duty of care.
