Constance Marten and Mark Gordon are facing two further charges after the death of their baby.

The couple were charged with manslaughter by gross negligence in March after the body of their two-month-old daughter Victoria was found in Stanmer Villas in Brighton.

Now, in a fresh hearing today, it emerged the pair have also been charged with child cruelty and causing or allowing the death of a child.

The alleged offences, dated between January 4 and February 27, come after Marten and Gordon were arrested following a nationwide manhunt for them and their newborn.

It is claimed they caused the baby’s death by their own “unlawful act” or failed to “take such steps as could reasonably have been expected” to protect the baby.

Marten, 36, and Gordon, 49, of no fixed address, appeared at the Old Bailey before Judge Mark Lucraft KC via video link today.

The couple appeared separately and spoke only to confirm their identities.

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Marten wore a pink and white floral shirt and Gordon wore a grey tracksuit.

Judge Lucraft put a plea and case management hearing back from August 18 to September 22 and confirmed the provisional trial has been set for January 2 next year.

A further mention hearing was set for August 25.

Baby Victoria’s remains were found in a plastic bag in a locked shed at an overgrown allotment in Hollingbury on March 1.

Officers from Sussex Police and the Met Police scoured the city for the child for days after Marten and Gordon were arrested.

Sussex Police Sergeant Alec Barrett led the team running door-to-door enquiries in an attempt to find Victoria. He said: "We put in every effort and ounce of our ability to try and find them.

"We thought every effort could locate that child and they would still be alive and we could save them."

A first post-mortem was unable to provide a provisional cause of death.

The pair previously appeared at Crawley Magistrates' Court in March where they were initially charged.