Constance Marten and Mark Gordon remanded in custody until trial for manslaughter of baby
Mark Gordon is led into Crawley Police Station before being taken to Crawley Magistrates Court where he and Constance Marten appeared
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Runaway couple Constance Marten and Mark Gordon have appeared in court, charged with manslaughter over the death of their baby.
Search teams hunting for the couple's missing two-month-old child found the remains of a baby in the Hollingbury area of Brighton on Wednesday afternoon.
The couple were arrested on Monday night, after going on the run in mysterious circumstances in January.
At Crawley magistrates court, Marten, 35 and Gordon, 48, appeared in the dock for a brief first court appearance since they were formally charged on Thursday night.
Court documents at Crawley magistrates court this afternoon revealed that the name of the baby was Victoria.
The couple were arrested on Monday night, after going on the run in mysterious circumstances in January.
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They both wore prison issue grey track suits and spoke only to confirm their names, dates of birth and the fact they had no fixed address.
They face charges of manslaughter and concealing the birth of a child.
They are also charged with perverting the course of justice.
The pair disappeared after their car was found abandoned and on fire on 5 January, in a lay-by on the M61 near Bolton.
A detailed forensic examination of the vehicle revealed that Constance Marten had given birth in or near the car a day or two before it was found abandoned.
They were later spotted in Liverpool, before traveling to Essex and then on to east London.
Police made numerous appeals to the public to help find the couple, who were occasionally seen on CCTV cameras.
The last known sighting was on 8 January in the Sussex port of Newhaven.
A view of Crawley Magistrates Court where the pair were charged with gross negligence manslaughter.
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Despite repeated appeals, there were no more confirmed sightings of the pair until a member of the public spotted them at a convenience store in north Brighton just before 9:30pm on Monday.
The alert member of the public dialed 999 and police detained the pair just six minutes later.
There was no sign of the couple's baby and a huge search operation began, involving hundreds of police officers and volunteer search and rescue teams.
On Wednesday evening, police reported that a child's remains had been found not far from where the couple were arrested.
The court heard the child’s remains were found in an allotment shed, wrapped in a plastic bag, under a pile of nappies.
Detectives said they believed the remains may have been there for some time.
A post mortem examination of the child’s remains is being carried out today.
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon have now been remanded back into custody.
They will appear at the Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey on 31 March.