Two new CCTV clips have been released of a missing aristocrat and her convicted sex offender boyfriend who have been missing with their baby for more than six weeks.
Police have said the cash that they took with them will “be coming to an end”.
Constance Marten, 35, and her partner Mark Gordon, 48, went missing after their car was found burning on the M61 in Bolton, Greater Manchester, on 5 January. It is believed she gave birth either in or near the vehicle only a day or two earlier.
Neither the baby nor Ms Marten have received any medical attention.
Officers say it is unknown if the baby was full-term or has any health issues, which is why officers “remain committed to finding the family”.
Authorities believe the couple have been sleeping rough in a blue tent, and fear for the safety of the child.
On Tuesday, police released two new CCTV clips, which showed the couple in two locations in Newhaven, East Sussex, on Sunday 8 January – the last confirmed sighting of the pair.
The couple have so far avoided being traced by the police by moving around frequently and keeping their faces covered in CCTV images. Police believe that at the moment they could be anywhere in the UK.
The first clip, from a petrol station forecourt on Avis Road, Newhaven, at 5.18am, showed the pair carrying numerous bags. They paused for a moment to exchange some words before continuing down the road.
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon on Avis Road, Newhaven. Pic: Met Police
The second, from a house camera on Cantercrow Hill, Newhaven, showed the couple carrying what are presumably the same bags, walking speedily down the road an hour later at 6.25am.
Constance Marten and Mark Gordon on Cantercrow Hill, Newhaven. Pic: Met Police
In a renewed police appeal to find the couple, Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford said: “We know… they had a large amount of cash available to them. And we still believe that they will have cash available to them, as of today.
“But we also know that with a newborn baby comes the requirement for the items that they require, and also, just day-to-day living for both Constance and Mark. We know they’re coming to a position where that cash will be coming to an end.”
He added that officers have “viewed more than 660 hours of CCTV” as part of their efforts to find them.
DS Basford said there have been more than 350 calls to police from the public with information following previous appeals. A reward of £10,000 is still being offered after it was first announced in January.
‘Genuine concern for health and wellbeing’
DS Basford explained that the couple were last seen with a blue two-man tent as they were believed to be camping in Newhaven and elsewhere in Sussex.
“We have a genuine concern for the health and wellbeing of the baby, and Constance and Mark, and it is our duty to ensure that they are okay,” he said.
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‘You’re putting your baby at risk’
Director of midwifery for Barts Health NHS Trust, Shereen Nimmo, also issued an appeal directly to Ms Marten, urging her to get medical checks done on her child.
She stressed that it was “not too late” for the child to have these checks done, but the longer the couple do not access medical care, the more they are “putting [their] baby at risk”.
Read more:
Police update appeal for missing couple as concern ‘continues to grow’
Couple and baby sleeping in tent in sub-zero temperatures, police say
Mapping the sightings of missing couple and newborn baby, from Liverpool to London
Where have the couple been spotted so far?
In addition to the CCTV clips released by police today, officers believe that following the car fire, the family travelled to Liverpool and then onwards to Harwich, Essex, via a taxi at about 3.30am on Friday 6 January.
They have also been seen in east London. On Saturday 7 January, they were spotted carrying bags containing camping equipment – including sleeping bags and two pillows. They spent the next few hours along the Whitechapel Road area, before walking to Brick Lane.
At around 11.46pm, they dumped a number of items, including a pushchair and got into a taxi to Haringey, north London, before travelling to East Sussex in another taxi, in the early hours of Sunday 8 January.
Carrying bags near Brick Lane, east London
They were seen sheltering from the rain, under an overpass, at about 6.00am on Sunday morning in Newhaven. Around 15 minutes later they walked into the fields beyond Cantercrow Hill.
They are believed to have moved some considerable distance since.
Ms Marten, who is from a wealthy aristocratic family, first met Gordon in 2016. She was a promising drama student at the time.
Since then the couple have led an isolated life, and in September, when Ms Marten was well into her pregnancy, the couple began moving around rental flats.
Gordon served 20 years in a US prison for rape and battery committed when he was 14.