A runaway couple were spotted in a food bank and a fish and chip shop in the city in the weeks leading up to their arrest, a national newspaper has claimed.
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon went on the run with their two-month-old child across England before being apprehended by police on Monday night.
More than 200 police officers from both Sussex Police and the Metropolitan Police were involved in a vast search for the couple’s baby, with remains discovered by police in woodland near where they were arrested.
According to The Sun, the couple visited Brighton Food Bank in Stanley Road as recently as last Wednesday, but did not ask for baby supplies, which were available, and reportedly did not have the infant with them.
The newspaper claimed volunteers at the site screamed after realising they had given items to the couple, including pasta, rice, bread and milk.
A worker at the food bank told The Sun: “The baby was not with them. We have supplies here but they didn’t ask for anything for a baby.
“They came asking for help for themselves. She did the talking and the man looked shifty at the back with his hood up.
“I didn’t know about the couple. When I saw their pictures on the news when they had been arrested, I thought ‘we gave them food last week.’”
The newspaper also spoke to a local businessman who claims that the couple visited J&E Fish Bar in Hollingbury Place in the weeks before their arrest on Monday.
He claimed the couple also visited a parade of shops along the road at night.
Marten and Gordon had visited the Mulberrys convenience store just minutes before they were apprehended by police but did not buy any baby supplies.
The businessman told The Sun: “They’ve been picked up on CCTV in the area as far back as February 11.
“They’ve been seen going into the chippy and into the Mulberrys, and would only go out at night.
“They were never seen with the baby or pushing a pram or anything like that.”
Marten and Gordon remain in custody after police were granted a 36-hour custody extension by magistrates yesterday.
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