Convicted sex offender Mark Gordon and his partner Constance Marten hunted down by police

A father wanted by police after disappearing with a missing aristocrat and their baby daughter is a convicted sex offender who spent more than 20 years in prison.

Mark Gordon, 48, and his partner Constance Marten, 35, have been at the center of a nationwide police hunt for two weeks as fears grow for the well-being of Miss Marten’s newborn baby.

British citizen Gordon is believed to have been deported from the United States in 2014 after apparently serving 24 years in prison there for kidnapping and sexual assault.

He was just 15 when he was convicted of the offenses in a Broward County court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1990.

Ms Marten comes from an aristocratic Dorset landowning family with ‘royal connections’, and police say they have a substantial amount of money, allowing them to live off the grid.

The police are also concerned that the large sum of money she may have means that she could evade the police for a considerable time.

Before parting ways with his family, his family put the Dorset estate, comprising a Grade I listed mansion, four villages, a cricket club and a lake, on the market in 2010 for £100million, ahead of its sale to an American buyer.

Ms Marten’s father, Napier Marten, was a pageboy to Queen Elizabeth II before giving up his £115million fortune after an ‘epiphany’ that told him to flee his ‘materialistic’ life.

A source told The Sunday Times that Ms Marten had access to a trust fund, believed to come from a multi-million pound trust stored at C. Hoare & Co – the UK’s oldest private bank.

Ms Marten is believed to have grown estranged from her family due to her relationship with Gordon, but is believed to still have access to her family’s funds.

Investigators say the pair appear to know how to evade authorities as CCTV footage shows them covering their faces or looking away, making their search more difficult.

Last September, Ms. Marten and Mr. Gordon began moving around the country, renting AirBnBs for brief periods.

Investigators said it was unusual for hotels to accept cash payments and appealed to staff at hotels or hostels where the couple may be staying to come forward.

On January 5, they were on the M61 when their car broke down and caught fire near junction four in Farnworth, Bolton.

The couple then walked to the Anchor Lane Bridge, where they caught a taxi to Liverpool before taking another to Harwich, Essex.

They were seen around Colchester on Friday January 6 and Saturday January 7, when they took another taxi to East Ham station in Newham, London, and were last seen.

Every time Ms Marten and Mr Gordon are seen on CCTV they cover their faces or look away and have kept the baby covered.

Police believe they could be anywhere in the UK and are calling on the public to provide any information that can help find them.

She obtained a BA from the University of Leeds in 2012 in Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies.

According to her LinkedIn page, she worked as a photojournalist and had a short stint as a researcher at the London office of the Qatari news channel Al Jazeera after graduation.

Aged 21, Ms Marten was considered an ‘It’ girl, appearing on fashion magazine Tatler’s Babe of the Month page as a student in 2008.

In the interview, the now-defunct mother described her love of the Swiss Alps and her volunteering trips to Nepal.

According to the Sunday Times, the aristocratic ‘it’ girl also dabbled in acting after enrolling at East 15 drama school in Essex, before dropping out in 2016 following a argument with his tutor.

In the same year, she reportedly started living with Mark Gordon in Ilford, east London.

A former classmate described Ms Marten as a “very talented” actress who “could have gone very far”, before walking away from her wealthy family.

The source said she used the trust fund to pay for the drama school course.

The couple’s neighbors in Ilford said the couple were ‘mysterious’ and rarely used the garden or were seen talking to people.

The source believed Marten had a few odd jobs, but Gordon was not working.

The couple were later evicted from their home in Ilford and moved to the Coldharbour estate in south-east London.

In August last year, however, following a court hearing, the couple were evicted for the second time, after failing to pay rent and leaving thousands of pounds in property damage .

It is not known where they lived between August and January of this year.

Metropolitan Police detectives have joined colleagues from the North West in the hunt after Miss Marten and her partner were spotted outside East Ham station in east London, where they were last seen January 7 at 11:45 a.m.

The couple disappeared after the car they were traveling in near Bolton broke down on Thursday January 5.

They left on foot with their little boy and have since been missing despite an extensive police search.

Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford, who is leading the investigation, said: “Constance and Mark, I appeal to you directly, please consider the health and well-being of your baby and contact us so that we can ensure that your child is medically well and has no underlying problems.

“Please do this for your child. You couldn’t forgive yourself if they got sick. All we want is to help you and your baby.

The Met Police have now taken over the investigation.

It is understood Miss Marten has not been in contact with her family for some time.

Police have already searched all hotels and bed and breakfasts in Colchester after the mother and her newborn baby went missing.

The family were seen in the town earlier this month but Miss Marten was reportedly captured by CCTV after she abandoned the car, which was purchased six days before she went missing.

Information from taxi drivers suggests the couple paid cash to travel first to Liverpool and then to Essex.

They then stayed at a hotel under false names. They were spotted in the port of Harwich in Essex around 9am on January 7.

Regular ferry services connect Harwich to the Hook of Holland. But Essex Police said the trio took a taxi from Harwich to East Ham station in Newham later that day.

Police said they were concerned neither Miss Marten nor her baby had been assessed by medical professionals since she gave birth.

In police statements, Gordon is described as wearing dark clothing while Miss Marten reportedly has a southern accent and wore a burgundy coat. The baby is swaddled.

Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford said: ‘This is a complex investigation with officers across the Met continuing to work around the clock to locate Constance, Mark and their baby.

“There is no indication that either of them suffered any intentional harm – we just need to make sure he is okay, especially the baby, and does not require any medical attention for any underlying issues.

“The last confirmed sighting of them was over a week ago in East Ham – they could now be anywhere in the UK which is why it is vital that members of the public continue to contact us to any suspected sightings.

“The help you have provided so far has been invaluable. Please remember Constance, Mark and the baby – if you see them or think you have seen them please contact us urgently.

Some 200 officers are working on the search and have gone through more than 200 hours of CCTV footage since the couple were last seen on January 7.

Mr Gordon’s conviction relates to an attack by Floida on a woman in her early twenties when he was 14.