The father of a missing newborn child is a convicted sex offender. A search for Mark Gordon, his partner, Constance Marten, and their baby boy, began on January 5 after their burning car was abandoned near Bolton.
Their vehicle, which had been bought six days earlier, was found near Junction 4 of the M61 at Farnworth on the hard shoulder. Ms Marten is from a land-owning aristocratic family with links to the Royal Family. The couple have a substantial amount of cash, allowing them to live off-grid, police have said.
They have no luggage with them after most of their belongings were destroyed in a car fire, and are using cash to pay for taxis and places to stay. Ms Marten has been estranged for several years from her family while Mr Gordon is a sex offender who served 20 years in a US jail for rape and battery. Mr Gordon’s conviction relates to a Florida attack on a woman in her early 20s when he was 14.
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Police are worried for the newborn and say neither Ms Marten nor the baby have had medical attention since the birth. The couple are understood to have lived an isolated life since meeting in 2016, with then-drama student Ms Marten cutting off ties with family and friends.
She grew up in Crichel House, a Dorset estate, as part of an eminent family who had links to the Royals. According to the Sunday Times, her grandmother was a playmate of Princess Margaret, while her father Napier Marten was a page to Queen Elizabeth.
The newspaper reported that the family put the Dorset estate on the market in 2010 for £100million, before its sale to an American buyer. Last September, Ms Marten and Mr Gordon began moving around the country, renting AirBnBs for brief periods.
After their car broke down and caught fire near Farnworth the couple then walked to Anchor Lane Bridge, which links Little Hulton and Highfield, where they got a taxi to Liverpool before getting another to Harwich, Essex.
They were seen around Colchester on Friday January 6 and Saturday 7, when they took another taxi to East Ham Station in Newham, London, and were last seen. Each time Ms Marten and Mr Gordon are seen on CCTV, they are covering their faces or looking away, and have kept the baby covered up.
Investigators say the couple appear to know how to evade authorities – making the search for them harder. Police believe they could be anywhere in the UK and are appealing to the public to come forward with any information that may help find them.
Detectives said it is unusual for hotels to accept cash payments and appealed to staff at hotels or hostels where the couple may stay to come forward. Some 200 officers are working on the search and have scoured through more than 200 hours of CCTV footage since the pair were last seen on January 7. Scotland Yard has taken over the investigation as the last sighting of the family was in London.
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