✕CloseConstance Marten: Father of runaway aristocrat makes emotional plea to missing daughter
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A missing aristocrat who disappeared with her rapist boyfriend gave birth to their child in the back seat of their car, it is believed.
Constance Marten, 35, and her partner Mark Gordon, 48, a convicted sex offender, went missing two weeks ago after reportedly concealing her pregnancy for five months.
Their car was found abandoned and on fire on the M61 near Bolton on 5 January.
Ms Marten was later seen on CCTV carrying the baby as the family made their way to Liverpool, Harwich, Colchester, and then east London.
Sources close to the investigation, involving three separate police forces, told The Daily Telegraph that emergency service staff called to the car fire noticed a placenta in the back seat.
It follows revelations that Mr Gordon had raped one of his neighbours armed with a pair of garden shears during a hostage situation when he was a teenager.
Mark Gordon, who is on the run in the UK with Ms Marten and their newborn baby, carried out the attack in Florida in 1989, aged 14, and was later jailed for 20 years.
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Who are Constance Marten and Mark Gordon: Everything we know about couple missing with newborn
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon have been missing now for two weeks with their newborn baby prompting an emotional plea from her aristocrat father.
Napier Marten, a film and music producer, urged his daughter Constance to take herself and the child to safety as soon as possible.
Police are desperately trying to find the mother, her baby and Mark Gordon after their car burst into flames on the M61 in Bolton, Greater Manchester, on 5 January.
Mark Gordon, the partner of Ms Marten, was jailed in the late 1980s in Florida, US, after raping and assaulting a woman when he was 14. After serving a 20-year sentence he was deported back to the UK in 2010, it emerged on Wednesday.
Who are Constance Marten and Mark Gordon: Everything we know about missing couple
The family has been missing for almost two weeks
Maryam Zakir-Hussain21 January 2023 18:001674320450
Mark Gordon’s mother speaks out: ‘He is a good boy’
Mark Gordon’s mother Sylvia said she is “very concerned” for the safety of her son and his partner.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, she said: “I am very concerned. I love my son. He is a good boy so I don’t know what this is all about.”
Mr Gordon has been missing with partner Constance Marten and their child, believed to be just weeks old, since 5 January.
It recently emerged that Mr Gordon is a convicted rapist who spent 20 years in jail in the US.
Emily Atkinson21 January 2023 17:001674316850
ICYMI: Key points
Here are the key points, compiled by my colleague Matt Mathers, from the case of Constance Marten and her partner Mark Gordon
- At 18.33hrs on Thursday, 5 January, officers were called to a car on fire on the hard-shoulder of the M61, near junction four (Farnworth, Bolton). However, the occupants were not at the scene.
- It is believed most of their belongings were destroyed in the car fire.
- Enquiries revealed that Constance and Mark were the occupants of the car and that Constance had very recently given birth, possibly one or two days before, and had not been assessed by medical professionals.
- A missing persons investigation was launched by Greater Manchester Police, who established that the family left the vehicle and the motorway safely – walking to the Anchor Lane bridge which links the Highfield and Little Hulton areas.
- Officers believe they then travelled to Liverpool and then onwards to Harwich via a taxi at about 03.30hrs on Friday, 6 January.
- Mark, Constance and a baby were seen by a member of the public in Harwich at about 9am on Saturday, 7 January. Officers also received a number of confirmed sightings of the family in Colchester on Friday, 6 January and Saturday, 7 January.
- Subsequently, the investigation was handed over to Essex Police on Monday, 9 January.
- Essex Police carried out a number of enquiries and reviewed hours of CCTV and were able to place the couple near East Ham Station between 10:30hrs and 12:30hrs on Saturday, 7 January.
Emily Atkinson21 January 2023 16:001674313250
Constance Marten: The runaway heiress, her rapist partner and the aristocratic family rift
Just how did Marten, whose father was a page to Elizabeth II, go from gracing the pages of society bible Tatler to being on the run with a man who, after burgling and raping a woman as a teenager, spent 20 years imprisoned in Florida before being deported to Britain?
Tom Ough reports:
The runaway heiress, her rapist partner and the aristocratic family rift
Her upbringing had all the trappings of high society, so how did Constance Marten come to be on the run for weeks on end with a sex offender 13 years her senior? Tom Ough reports
Emily Atkinson21 January 2023 15:001674310250
Everything we know about couple missing with newborn
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon have been missing now for two weeks with their newborn baby prompting an emotional plea from her aristocrat father.
Napier Marten, a film and music producer, urged his daughter Constance to take herself and the child to safety as soon as possible.
Police are desperately trying to find the mother, her baby and Mark Gordon after their car burst into flames on the M61 in Bolton, Greater Manchester, on 5 January.
Thomas Kingsley has the details:
Who are Constance Marten and Mark Gordon: Everything we know about missing couple
The family has been missing for almost two weeks
Emily Atkinson21 January 2023 14:101674306650
Voices: ‘Here’s how Constance Marten and Mark Gordon are evading detection'
Such haste to get from the north to the south of England suggests they had already identified a place to lie low and hide. But how are they both managing to stay hidden? Mark Williams-Thomas takes a look at some key ways:
Opinion: Here’s how Constance Marten and Mark Gordon are evading detection
I have spent decades tracking down wanted people – even those who had evaded the police for years
Emily Atkinson21 January 2023 13:101674303050
Crichel House: What do we know about the Dorset estate once home to Constance Marten?
Constance Marten is directly descended from the 3rd and last Baron Allington and once lived in the £34 million country house in Dorset.
The ownership of Crichel House – used as the backdrop for several period dramas, including Emma starring Gwyneth Paltrow – became the centre of a notorious political scandal in the wake of the Second World War.
In 2013 Napier Marten, Ms Marten’s father, sold the house and a portion of the land to the American billionaire Richard Chilton.
A glimpse of Crichel House’s grand exterior can be seen in this image:
Emily Atkinson21 January 2023 12:101674299428
Watch: Father of runaway aristocrat makes emotional plea to missing daughter
In case you missed it, Constance Marten’s estranged father has appealed via The Independent for his daughter to present herself to police “as soon as possible”.
Listen to his plea in full:
✕Constance Martens: Father of runaway aristocrat makes emotional plea to missing daughterEmily Atkinson21 January 2023 11:101674295828
Missing aristocrat Constance Marten gave birth in back seat of car left burning on motorway
An aristocratic mother currently on the run with her newborn baby and partner gave birth to their child in the back of a car they later left burning on a motorway, detectives believe.
Police have been searching for Constance Marten and Mark Gordon, a convicted rapist, ever since the couple abandoned their car on the hard shoulder of the M56, just a few miles from Bolton, more than a fortnight ago.
My colleague Andy Gregory reports:
Missing aristocrat gave birth in back seat of car left burning on motorway
Placenta discovered by officers in vehicle abandoned on M56
Emily Atkinson21 January 2023 10:101674292228
Watch: Constance Marten: Hunt for missing aristocrat and baby after her partner found to be convicted rapist
✕Constance Marten: Hunt for missing aristocrat and baby after her partner found to be convicted rapistEmily Atkinson21 January 2023 09:10
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