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A court has heard that the body of the missing child of Constance Marten was found in a plastic bag inside a shed.
Marten and her partner Mark Gordon have been remanded into custody charged with manslaughter.
The couple appeared in at Crawley Magistrates’ Court today after the grim discovery in an area of woodland in Brighton on Wednesday night, following a major two-day search operation in Sussex.
Along with manslaughter, they faced charges of concealing the birth of a child and perverting the course of justice.
The Mirror reported that Marten, 35, and Gordon, 48, spoke only to confirm their names, dates of birth and that they were of no fixed abode during a short hearing in front of a packed Crawley Magistrates’ Court.
The pair will appear at the Old Bailey on Friday, March 31.
The Metropolitan Police said they believed the baby may have been dead for "several weeks" before they were found and a post-mortem examination is set to take place today.
Marten who comes from a wealthy aristocratic family, and Gordon, were arrested on Stanmer Villas in Brighton on Monday.
The search in Sussex saw helicopters, sniffer dogs, thermal imaging cameras and drones, as well as hundreds of police officers and search and rescue teams deployed to an area of over 90 square miles to find the infant.
On Thursday, the Met said it was “too early” to provide a specific date of death, with the force’s Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford adding that officers had been unable to determine the baby’s gender.
He told reporters the case had been referred to the police watchdog.
An investigation was originally launched by Greater Manchester Police on January 5 after the couple and their baby disappeared.
It extended to Liverpool, Essex and London before focussing on Sussex more recently.
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