Police searching for missing pair raise fears about their newborn baby

Police searching for missing aristocrat and her sex offender boyfriend raise fresh fears about their newborn baby ‘last seen alive’ almost a month ago – as detectives say the runaway pair ‘must be running low on cash’

• Constance Marten and Mark Gordon went missing with their baby on January 5
• Police officers are increasingly concerned about the wellbeing of their newborn

Police are continuing their search for a missing aristocrat and her rapist boyfriend as fears mount over their newborn baby.

Constance Marten, 35, and Mark Gordon, 48, went missing with their baby on January 5, but it is believed that they have been camping out in the Sussex countryside.

It is now a month since the two disappeared with their baby after a car they were travelling in was found on fire on the hard-shoulder of the M61. 

Officers are increasingly concerned about the newborn, pleading with Gordon and Marten to let them know they are safe.

Police said ‘finding the baby remains our top priority’ as they are ‘increasingly concerned’ for its wellbeing. 

Constance Marten (right), 35, and Mark Gordon (left), 48, went missing with their baby on January 5

Officers are increasingly concerned about the newborn, pleading with Gordon and Marten, 35, and Mark Gordon to let them know they are safe 

Police say the baby was last seen alive on January 8 – as detectives raised fresh fears about the newborn’s health following the recent cold weather  

Addressing Marten and Gordon directly, Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford said: ‘Constance and Mark, your baby has spent the first month of its short life exposed to the elements when it should be safe and warm and, most importantly, seen by medics.

‘After a month you must be running low on cash. Please pick up the phone and let us know, at the very least, that you are okay. We are ready to come to you and see that you and the baby get medical attention.’

Det Supt Basford added to the authorities’ concern over the child: ‘For a month now Mark, Constance and her new-born have been continually on the move in sub-zero temperatures with no medical attention and we are increasingly concerned for their wellbeing.

‘We know that the baby was still alive on 8 January and finding the baby remains our top priority. Maybe you have information but were reluctant to come forward to help us find the family. It does not matter why you did not speak to us earlier, what matters is doing the right thing now for the good of this highly vulnerable infant.

Officers are also reiterating appeals for information from the public with a £10,000 cash reward amid increased concern over their wellbeing.

‘Previous appeals have resulted in around 300 calls from members of the public, but sadly they have not led to the couple and their baby being found,’ Det Supt Basford said.

‘While we are very grateful to everyone who has already called, we still need to hear from anyone who has seen the couple since Sunday, 8 January and we are offering a reward of up to £10,000 for any information that leads to the family being found.

‘I am appealing in particular to people who may have spent time in the countryside near Newhaven and elsewhere in Sussex to think carefully as to whether they may have seen Constance and Mark over the past four weeks. Given the time that’s passed they may have travelled on, so I also need to hear from anyone who may have seen them further afield.’

Police released this picture of Marten and Gordon outside East Ham station at around 11.45am on Saturday January 7

Marten is believed to have been spotted wrapped in red blanket in Harwich Port, Essex on Saturday at 9am

Police believe they have tracked down Marten and Gordon to Newhaven in East Sussex.

Detectives said they were dropped off in a taxi at 4.56am on Sunday, January 8, just outside the entrance to the port.

The two, with their baby, then walked to where the A259 crosses over the B2109. They were seen sheltering from the rain, under the overpass, at about 6am.

Some 15 minutes later early that Sunday morning, they both walked along Cantercrow Hill into the fields beyond. They were carrying a number of bags and their blue tent.

Officers now believe that they have been camping in the area, but may now have moved on by some considerable distance.

However, they were no longer in possession of the pushchair that they were previously seen with after they dumped it in Flower and Dean Walk, E1, at 11.46pm on January 7. 

Constance Marten is missing with her rapist boyfriend and their newborn baby in the UK

Newhaven ferry port CCTV picked up the couple on January 8, circled in red in this still

It is understood that Constance Martens comes from a privileged background. She was privately educated, and hails from an aristocratic family with links to the royals.

When she was 21, she featured in society magazine Tatler as its ‘Babe of the Month’.  

Gordon was born in Birmingham. He, his mother and his half-siblings moved to the US when he was still a child in 1989.

That same year aged 14, Gordon armed himself with garden shears and a kitchen knife, and attacked his neighbour in a four-and-a-half-hour ordeal which saw him take her hostage and sexually assault her.

Two young children were sleeping in the room next door at the time of the attack, documents show.

US court records describe how Gordon is said to have broken in through the woman’s bathroom window, before finding a pair of her stockings which he used as a makeshift mask to cover his face.

Once he had encountered his victim, the documents state: ‘The suspect ordered the victim back into the bedroom and while still armed, demanded that the victim undress.’

He then sexually assaulted and raped the victim.

There were a total of six charges against Gordon relating to the April 29 attack: one count of armed kidnapping, four separate counts of armed sexual battery and one count of burglary with a deadly weapon. He was convicted on all charges.

Anyone who has information on the family’s whereabouts are asked to call the incident room on 020 7175 0785.

Alternatively, information can be reported 100 percent anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. They never ask for personal details and they do not trace your device.

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