Constance Marten update as cops reveal where they think missing mum is staying with newborn baby
A MUM missing with her newborn baby and partner are feared to be sleeping in a tent in the freezing weather.
Scotland Yard is trying to trace Constance Marten, her baby and partner Mark Gordon, who have a substantial amount of cash allowing them to live off-grid.
The force said the couple bought camping gear on January 7 in East London.
They were seen later that day in the same area but have not knowingly been seen since.
Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford, who is leading the investigation, said: “We are extremely concerned that a newborn baby – less than a week old at the time on January 7 – has been exposed to sub-freezing cold temperatures if Mark and Constance have been camping out somewhere as our evidence suggests.”
Photos shared by the cops today shows the couple had gone to ARgos on Whitechapel Road, East London, on Saturday January 7.
Mark went in alone and bought two big bags full of items, paying in cash, including a blue two-man tent, two sleeping bags and two pillows. He left the store about 6.40pm.
They then spent slightly more than three hours walking around the Whitechapel Road area. They tried to flag down three black cabs, but were refused.
The family then left the area on foot – walking along Brick Lane about 10pm.
It’s the last time they have officially been seen.
On Sunday a friend said Constance was brainwashed by a Nigerian cult before she vanished.
The childhood friend has concerns the 35-year-old’s rapist boyfriend Mark Gordon has a “hold over her”.
It has been more than two weeks since Constance and Gordon, 48, ditched their burning car on a Manchester motorway and a nationwide hunt to find them – and their newborn baby – began.
In recent days it was revealed that Gordon spent 20 years behind bars for his four-hour attack on a neighbour – where he raped her and said he’d “kill her children” if she screamed.
A pal of Constance’s has now told of how her friend had been left “traumatised” by a charismatic Nigerian evangelical church leader.
Constance was said to have spent around six months living abroad while she was at university, working for the controversial pastor T B Joshua.
The friend, who has not been named, told MailOnline: “She ended up becoming one of his disciples in Nigeria.
“I believe she got brainwashed while she was over there. The experience traumatised her.
“She was not the same person when she came back.”
Constance – whose friends lovingly called her Toots – is believed to have joined Joshua after attending an evangelical-style course, exploring Christian beliefs in London.
The friend said she was now worried about what influence Gordon was having on Constance.