Constance Martens: Father of runaway aristocrat makes emotional plea to missing daughter
An aristocrat whose estranged daughter is missing with her rapist partner and their newborn baby has called for police to investigate her links with a Nigerian church where it is claimed she was “brainwashed”.
Police have been searching for Mark Gordon, Constance Marten and their child after they abandoned their car on the M61 in Bolton, Greater Manchester, on 5 January.
Napier Marten said he had “long-held suspicions” since Ms Marten returned from Lagos, where she spent several months at the Synagogue, Church of All Nations.
Mr Marten, a film and music producer who was a Page to the late Queen, said that the experiences appear to have been a “trigger” in so much of what has happened to harm Constance”, saying it set up a pattern of behaviour exposing her to easy manipulation.
The distressed father issued an emotional appeal last month asking his daughter to turn herself in to the police so that she and her baby “can be protected”.
ICYMI: New sighting of runaway aristocrat missing with rapist partner and newborn baby
Last month the Metropolitan Police released CCTV images of the pair who were seen purchasing a tent at Argos in Whitechapel, east London, on 7 January just two days after they went missing near Bolton.
It is thought to be the last time the couple was spotted in public. Police believe they may have been sleeping rough in the tent during the recent cold weather.
Thomas Kinglsey has more:
Matt Mathers13 February 2023 13:58
Recap: a timeline of missing aristocrat’s disappearance with rapist partner and newborn baby
Just after 6.30pm on Thursday, 5 January officers from Greater Manchester Police were called to a car on fire on the hard-shoulder of the M61 near junction four at Farnworth, Bolton.
Ms Marten and Gordon were not at the scene with officers believing they had fled on foot. However, most of their belongings were destroyed in the fire.
After establishing the identity of the car owners, Greater Manchester Police launched a missing persons investigation.
Below is a timeline of all the couple’s known movements since they disappeared:
Matt Mathers13 February 2023 13:54
Runaway aristocrat’s father calls for inquiry into Nigerian cult where she was ‘brainwashed’
Thomas Kingsley has the full story:
Matt Mathers13 February 2023 13:51
Who are Constance Marten and Mark Gordon: Everything we know about couple missing with newborn
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.
The Independent revealed that Ms Marten is directly descended from the 3rd and last Baron Allington and once lived in the £34 million Crichel country house in Dorset.
Writing on her Facebook page, the 35-year-old said she enjoys “naked picnics, siestas amid hay bales and tractor scoops.”
Maryam Zakir-Hussain13 February 2023 13:00
Welcome to our Constance Marten blog where will be giving you the latest updates on the missing aristocrat.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain13 February 2023 11:16