Missing aristocrat, rapist partner and newborn ‘camping out in countryside’
Police issue renewed appeal to trace Constance Marten and Mark Gordon, who disappeared one month ago
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Your support makes all the difference.Police have issued a renewed appeal to trace a missing aristocrat, her convicted rapist partner and their newborn baby.
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon abandoned their car on the hard-shoulder of the M61 a month and despite multiple sightings since have not been found by the authorities.
It is now believed they have been camping out in the Sussex countryside.
In the new appeal on Sunday, Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford of the Met’s East Area Command stated that the force is “very grateful” for the tip-offs it has received but has urged the public to “think carefully” about whether they may have seen the couple in recent weeks.
The force is offering a sum of “up to” £10,000 for any information that leads to the family being found.
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In a direct plea to the couple, Det Supt 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.”
The investigation first began on 5 January after police were called to reports of a car ablaze on the hard shoulder of the M61, near Bolton.
Officers identified the vehicle as belonging to Mr Gordon and Ms Marten, who had given birth “possibly one or two days before.” She had not yet been assessed by medical professionals.
Ms Marten’s partner Gordon was jailed in the late 1980s in Florida after raping and assaulting a woman when he was 14. He served a 20-year sentence before being deported back to the UK in 2010.
Det Supt Basford said: “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.
“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.”
Ms Marten is directly descended from the 3rd and last Baron Allington, and once lived in the £34 million Crichel country house in Dorset.
Her father, film and music producer Napier Marten, issued an emotional plea in January urging his daughter to seek safety as soon as possible.
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