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

[Perodicticus potto]

It's striking that the police haven't made any appeals to the father, just the mother.

 

[annpats]

It's striking that the police haven't made any appeals to the father, just the mother.

I think that's because they're only worried about the babies welfare, and nothing else.

It's a bit nanny state....if the baby needed health care, I'm sure she'd take her baby to receive some.

As odd as this disappearance is, I'm in favour of letting adults be adults.

 

[Perodicticus potto]

I think that's because they're only worried about the babies welfare, and nothing else.

I'm not convinced that's the case, but even if it were, they might expect the father to care about his child too. Or they could point out that his partner risked dying of an infection without proper postnatal care (as many new mothers did before modern medicine).

 

[annpats]

I'm not convinced that's the case, but even if it were, they might expect the father to care about his child too. Or they could point out that his partner risked dying of an infection without proper postnatal care (as many new mothers did before modern medicine).

Well, I hear what you're saying, but no crime has yet been committed.

The father doesn't have to care about his child. (And who's to say he isn't?)

Also, Post-natal care isn't a legal obligation.

You have to let people decide for themselves. You can't hound people.

The police are only concerned from a social services point of view that the baby is being looked after, because there's nothing else for them to be concerned about legally (although that could always change.)

 

[little_mi]

I am really surprised that Daily Mail hasn't ran their full biographies (even if made up) by now. Something is different with this couple
Edit: typo

 

[little_mi]

I think that's because they're only worried about the babies welfare, and nothing else.

It's a bit nanny state....if the baby needed health care, I'm sure she'd take her baby to receive some.

As odd as this disappearance is, I'm in favour of letting adults be adults.

That doesn't explain the abandoned car. That's the fishy part for me. Also, has it been confirmed that he is the father of the baby?

 

[little_mi]

I do think it's odd how there's been no posts from their families or friends in light of their disappearance - normally there'd be tabloid articles written about someone's mum pleading for their safe return. makes me wonder if she/both are estranged from their families?

There doesn't seem to be any family following her/she's following on her social media. At least nobody with the same surname

 

[Bibno]

That doesn't explain the abandoned car. That's the fishy part for me. Also, has it been confirmed that he is the father of the baby?

I think early reports indicated that the car was on fire.

 

[Perodicticus potto]

That doesn't explain the abandoned car. That's the fishy part for me. Also, has it been confirmed that he is the father of the baby?

The GMP statement refers to the couple as missing with "their" baby, so I guess so. <modsnip>

 

[StillDiggin]

Essex Police makes direct appeal to missing couple with newborn baby

A detective in Essex is appealing directly to a missing woman who gave birth last week.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Carovb5]

it really is curious they don’t say why they’re searching so hard, as it is okay for adults to ‘dissapear’ if they want, people do it all the time, across the globe…

There must be a good reason they made this public, unless it’s on demand of the family (maybe they are important (politics, their link to the Royals,…) to the police?

Regarding the fact they’re only trying to make contact with her, not him, and focussing on the baby might also mean the concern is about the dynamics between them:
- didn’t he want the kid en she chose to keep it?
- was there a health problem en she did the above?
- was he uncertain the baby was his?
- was there an unhealthy situation (mentally unstable or an episode? Following a weard occult?) and they think she’s the most approachable?
-…

Not saying that’s the case, but them only trying to speaking to her via media has a lot of possible reasons.

MOO

 

[Littlegreenlady]

This is all so odd. If the mother was alone with the baby, I could maybe understand the fear from police as maybe they felt she wasn't mentally well enough to look after herself or the baby. But that there is a partner with her, makes it seem a bit stranger, especially when you look at the background.

For the photos, they look like drivers licence photos - these days the rules are so strict about smiling in them, mine certainly looks like a mugshot.

At first it made sense with the motorway closed and the ambulance strike, but it seems strange that they have now ended up in another part of the country. Definitely feels like there is more to the story.

 

[Perodicticus potto]

Bear in mind, too, that police in the UK are so underresourced they ask theft victims to investigate the crime themselves (requesting CCTV, etc). IMO, there's no way they're doing all this just because a baby missed a checkup.

 

[MsMiniSleuth]

A search for a missing mother and her newborn child has entered its sixth day, with every hotel and B&B in the city of Colchester being checked.

Police are concerned that Constance Marten, 35, has financial resources as she is from a wealthy, landowning family.

Miss Marten, and her partner Mark Gordon, disappeared after the car they were travelling in broke down on the M61 near Bolton, Greater Manchester, on Thursday evening, before leaving on foot with their baby boy.

The family was last seen in Colchester, with Essex Police stating that they now have a number of confirmed sightings in the city.

Yesterday, officers worked through the night to visit every single hotel and bed and breakfast in Colchester to establish whether the couple and their baby had recently stayed.

The search is continuing today and leaflets are being handed out to help members of the public identify Miss Marten and Mr Gordon.

It has now emerged Ms Marten is from an aristocratic landowning family in Dorset with 'ties to the Royal Family'.

But it is understood that she has not been in close contact with them for a considerable time.

[...]

Intelligence provided by taxi drivers suggests that the couple paid cash to travel first to Liverpool and then to Essex. They later stayed at a hotel using false names. They were spotted in Harwich Port in Essex at around 9am on Saturday morning.

[...]

Police check every hotel in city in hunt for missing mother and baby

A search for missing mother Constance Marten (pictured), 35, and her newborn child has entered its sixth day, with every hotel and B&B in the city of Colchester being checked.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[amaraya]

<modsnip - other children are off limits> This all sounds very, very strange. i wonder if she wasn't well connected if this situation would be any different?

 

[baguettepasta]

I see it says in that dailymail article that the car they abandoned on the M61 was bought 6 days beforehand - makes things even weirder. they used cash to pay taxi drivers to take them to Liverpool and then down to Essex. It definitely seems like they're running from something.

<modsnip - sleuthing family members of missing persons who are not implicated in the disappearance is not allowed>

 

[wowiezowie]

One of the groups she follows on Facebook is called 'Social Services Exposed' Maybe she has had negative interaction with SS in the past and this may be a factor in her disappearance. They've certainly done everything in their power NOT to be found.

 

[Perodicticus potto]

One of the groups she follows on Facebook is called 'Social Services Exposed' Maybe she has had negative interaction with SS in the past and this may be a factor in her disappearance. They've certainly done everything in their power NOT to be found.

That group goes beyond just "negative experiences." Do Social Services get it wrong sometimes? You bet, and the consequences are devastating. Do they get it wrong as often as accused parents would like you to think? Probably not. Are they part of an international conspiracy to traffic children? Of course not, <modsnip> but it's what that group and a whole Internet subculture believe.

 

[JumpingFrog]

I've been keeping up with the case and hoping the best for CM & baby. Maybe she/they kept the pregnancy secret until the last minute and have run following the birth. I'd say no mention of the 3 other babies other than old pics is quite telling, along with the SS Facebook page. Don't know what part the man plays in it. Really hope she and baby are and will be safe.

 

[ScalableHeights]

Running from Social Services makes sense. My initial thought was that they may have been running from something like a criminal gang - the cult she was involved in investigating, for example - but if that were the case the police wouldn't be blasting their likely location all over the media.

Hypothetically speaking, if her other children had been taken into care, and Social Services knew she was pregnant, perhaps she feared the baby would be taken away as soon as it was born (I don't know if that's something that can happen, but all that matters if they believe it can) it would explain why she gave birth in secret and they planned on running away. They bought a car for that purpose (I'm guessing in cash) it broke down so they torched it to cover their tracks and paid for taxis so payments couldn't be traced. If there's a genuine concern for the child's welfare - for example whatever happened to the other kids potentially happening to the new baby - it would explain the high profile appeal and the door-to-door searches which seem heavy-handed on the face of it.

Purely a theory, I'm not accusing anyone of anything and I very much hope this really is all just about a postnatal check-up and nothing more, but it's the only way I personally can make the pieces fit. Hopefully all three are happy, healthy and well.