Recovered/Located UK - Constance Marten & Mark Gordon & Newborn, left a broken down car on motorway, Bolton Greater Manchester, 5 Jan 2023

[Puddleduck2]

They are likely not that noticeable, especially apart and or without the baby. Alone she's a nondescript white woman doing some shopping.

I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't quite look like the photos put out there either. A priority for missing persons investigations is to get the most recent clear photos of the people missing as possible for media releases. Whether the photos used are from arrests or driving licences (and honestly they could be either) they are unlikely to be all that recent. They're also not great for recognising someone. Super close and washed out, flat harsh lighting, his has a weird focal point which I'm sure is warping things a bit too. Not what you'd pick if you had options. Especially as, even if she/they were arrested recently, police don't use a mugshot for a press release unless they really have to for obvious reasons.

Now it might be that they initially used them because they'd come from out of area so the police force who realised they were missing from the car with a baby, felt the risk was high/immediate and only had these photos to hand (in which case they're mugshots) - but no new photos have popped up or been released either. No cropped group shot, no pic of them standing together, no family pictures with the other kids, no smiling selfie. The only other photos of her attached to articles is from at least feb 2020.

So it seems despite all this manpower they haven't got hold of a better photo of them, not through family or friends even. That's... Well it's odd on it's own, but my main point was that if it's been a rough few years for her, she might pass under the radar fairly well.

The problem for them is when they want to move as a group. Older rougher black dude, white woman with a posh accent and a days old newborn - but no pram/nappy bag/baby stuff etc. Even in London they run much more of a risk of getting noticed and recognised.

A house search is also usually a top priority, but I've not seen much coverage about where they were living before all this started.

If they are now trying to evade detection in London, would probably be best for the met police to release their official 'Missing' posters in Polish, Russian Arabic, Urdu, etc

 

[Perodicticus potto]

There's a lovely photo of her that the papers have used where she looks amazing and her son looks well dressed. She doesn't look unwell.

A few years ago, my husband and I were walking down the street in our more-or-less middle-class neighbourhood when we found a well-dressed, well-spoken elderly lady stumbling around. At her request, we escorted her to her neat, beautifully-furnished home so she could (she said) take her heart medicine. It turned out she was a delusional alcoholic and we had to escape her house by stealth.
"Unwell" doesn't always show up in photos.

 

[Lindsay Lou Who]

<modsnip - not victim friendly>
Had they been living in Liverpool more recently hence going back to Liverpool in a taxi from Bolton to pick up a few pieces before going to Harwich?
<modsnip - not victim friendly>
Still pondering where their initial destination was before the car fire on the Northbound M61 or where they set off from. Obviously not to Liverpool as they would have gone on the M60, M62... Unless they were heading to Heysham or up to Scotland for a ferry to Ireland / NI / Isle of Man and they had set off from Manchester instead... And because of the car fire decided to try the nearest port to Bolton which would be Liverpool...

Harrowing but could the police have been searching the vehicle for signs of a body / remains?

 

[Rosiebones]

Baby was probably pre-diagnosed with a condition that would requiere special need treatment or assessmenr.

Or the baby may be known to have been born many weeks premature. MOO MOO MOO

 

[Perodicticus potto]

Here's my theory of how things may have played out. This is just my speculation and has not been confirmed.

- The couple get evicted from their flat by court order.
- Because CM is pregnant (and, possibly, because the older children are still living with them - if they are), the court refers them to the local authority for emergency housing.
- A housing officer looks at their finances to see what benefits they're entitled to.
- It is thus discovered that CM has more than enough money to house herself and her child(ren), but either refuses or is too unwell to do so.
<modsnip - not victim friendly>
- At this point, the case takes on a very different tone.

Again, my opinion only.

 

[baguettepasta]

Here's my theory of how things may have played out. This is just my speculation and has not been confirmed.

- The couple get evicted from their flat by court order.
- Because CM is pregnant (and, possibly, because the older children are still living with them - if they are), the court refers them to the local authority for emergency housing.
- A housing officer looks at their finances to see what benefits they're entitled to.
- It is thus discovered that CM has more than enough money to house herself and her child(ren), but either refuses or is too unwell to do so.
<modsnip - not victim friendly>
- At this point, the case takes on a very different tone.

Again, my opinion only.

agreed, and given that it sounds like (from the times article) there was substantial damages to the place they were evicted from then housing officers may have had safeguarding concerns due to neglect (if the children were still living with them).

and if that is the case then neglect is obviously a criminal offence so the interest from the police could be explained. this is just my opinion!

 

[Puddleduck2]

So IYO would it be probable then the older kids were removed due to <modsnip - not victim friendly> as you say from neglect?
I am guessing you mean the eviction from the Coldharbour Estate rather than the Ilford terrace house?
I wonder why they were not paying the rent and trashed the place?
Covid did some weird things to people and the dates for the last photos on CM Facebook are from Feb 2020 just before the lockdown
Does anyone think drugs are somehow involved too?
On a side note the DVLA must have been quick to change the new keeper details on the V5 vehicle logbook considering their vehicle had been purchased six days earlier and some delays for post after the postal strikes...

 

[Perodicticus potto]

and if that is the case then neglect is obviously a criminal offence so the interest from the police could be explained. this is just my opinion!

Child neglect only becomes a criminal offence if a child suffers serious harm. If the kids are just living in bad conditions, it's a matter for Social Services.

 

[Earthwindfire]

I am guessing you mean the eviction from the Coldharbour Estate rather than the Ilford terrace house?
I wonder why they were not paying the rent and trashed the place?
Covid did some weird things to people and the dates for the last photos on CM Facebook are from Feb 2020 just before the lockdown
Does anyone think drugs are somehow involved too?
On a side note the DVLA must have been quick to change the new keeper details on the V5 vehicle logbook considering their vehicle had been purchased six days earlier and some delays for post after the postal strikes...

It's a good point about covid. Lockdown was an extremely dark time for many. If someone was separated from their children during it, perhaps with the aim of it being temporarily while they sorted themselves out, it must have been awful.

Also many children were neglected in that time while they weren't at school/nursery and there was little to no HEalth visitor contact. I had a lockdown baby. We saw no one once she was discharged from midwifery at 10 days old! By the time we next had contact with anyone, she could have been hugely unwell from neglect!

 

[Normal Norm]

Does anyone think drugs are somehow involved too?

Yes, but this is a gut feeling only.

On a side note the DVLA must have been quick to change the new keeper details on the V5 vehicle logbook considering their vehicle had been purchased six days earlier and some delays for post after the postal strikes...

For reasons I can't explain, something doesn't quite sit right with me regarding how quickly the police linked the car to CM and MG. In my wilder moments, I wonder whether they were already under observation / being tailed by the police at the time they disappeared.

[Original post snipped by me for focus]

 

[Rolypolyoly]

On a side note the DVLA must have been quick to change the new keeper details on the V5 vehicle logbook considering their vehicle had been purchased six days earlier and some delays for post after the postal strikes...

New keeper details are mostly done online now, so even though it would probably take a while to get the new paper copy, the database is probably updated pretty quickly. JMO

 

[ChiefLentilWeaver]

I wonder if perhaps the car was found to contain blood, and so had to be secured as a potential crime scene which would explain the length of the motorway closure. But that actually it was CM's blood - she might have given birth in the car and that's how the police knew immediately that she had had the baby.

And yes new keeper details are updated online most of the time now, it's pretty much instant.

 

[swedepete]

I´ve been searching the Election Roll data bases for CM, and it turns out that there is no such record of her in the ER after 2010, when she was 23 years of age. Granted, she may well have been living abroad for several years as part of her work as a photo-journalist for Al-Jazeera News, but she has obviously been back in the UK for some time now. Any ideas how this might be explained?
Thanks!

 

[swedepete]

Correction to my message above: It should be "Electoral Rolls" and nothing else, obviously!

 

[gribb0]

I´ve been searching the Election Roll data bases for CM, and it turns out that there is no such record of her in the ER after 2010, when she was 23 years of age. Granted, she may well have been living abroad for several years as part of her work as a photo-journalist for Al-Jazeera News, but she has obviously been back in the UK for some time now. Any ideas how this might be explained?
Thanks!

It's possible to opt out of having your details available on the open register - I'm on the closed register so cannot be found via 192 etc

 

[Bibno]

Correction to my message above: It should be "Electoral Rolls" and nothing else, obviously!

I´ve been searching the Election Roll data bases for CM, and it turns out that there is no such record of her in the ER after 2010, when she was 23 years of age. Granted, she may well have been living abroad for several years as part of her work as a photo-journalist for Al-Jazeera News, but she has obviously been back in the UK for some time now. Any ideas how this might be explained?
Thanks!

It’s fairly easy not to be listed on the electoral roll. If you move and don’t register nobody chases you.

 

[ChiefLentilWeaver]

She may just have failed to register. A lot of people don't, especially people living a chaotic lifestyle or who want to fly under the radar.

 

[dotr]

Jan 15 2023

Mother missing with lover and newborn was Tatler 'It' girl

Constance Marten and Mark Gordon have been missing with a newborn baby for ten days, since they abandoned their car on the M61 near Bolton on January 5.

www.dailymail.co.uk

''The aristocrat daughter of a former page to the Queen was a 'very talented' actress who 'could have gone very far', before becoming estranged from her wealthy family, a former classmate has said.

Constance Marten and Mark Gordon, along with their newborn baby have been missing for ten days after they were seen abandoning their burning broken down car on foot, leaving the M61 near Bolton on January 5.

Both the Met and Essex Police forces have joined Greater Manchester Police on their efforts after the couple were spotted in Harwich Port, Essex and later at East Ham Tube station in Newham, East London.''

 

[Alyce]

This is basically The Times article, reprinted by the DM


Ms Marten is from a family of wealthy landowners, with links to the Royal Family.

She is the granddaughter of Mary Anna Marten, whose godmother was the late Queen Mother, while her father Napier Marten was a page to Queen Elizabeth.

Before she became estranged from her family, who once owned the Crichel estate in Dorset, Ms Marten was deemed an 'It' girl, appearing on fashion magazine Tatler's Babe of the Month page, while she was a student in 2008.



more at the link ................

Mother missing with lover and newborn was Tatler 'It' girl

Constance Marten and Mark Gordon have been missing with a newborn baby for ten days, since they abandoned their car on the M61 near Bolton on January 5.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[swedepete]

This is basically The Times article, reprinted by the DM


Ms Marten is from a family of wealthy landowners, with links to the Royal Family.

She is the granddaughter of Mary Anna Marten, whose godmother was the late Queen Mother, while her father Napier Marten was a page to Queen Elizabeth.

Before she became estranged from her family, who once owned the Crichel estate in Dorset, Ms Marten was deemed an 'It' girl, appearing on fashion magazine Tatler's Babe of the Month page, while she was a student in 2008.



more at the link ................

Mother missing with lover and newborn was Tatler 'It' girl

Constance Marten and Mark Gordon have been missing with a newborn baby for ten days, since they abandoned their car on the M61 near Bolton on January 5.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Not that it really matters much, but the media for whatever reason seems to think that CM´s family (the Marten family) no longer owns their ancestral Crichel estate in Dorset. In fact, they are still substantial part-owners of the +5000 acre estate together with Lord Phillimore and a British-American financier. So there´s still a very strong, ongoing family connection to Crichel to this very day.