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Who Is Mark Gordon? The Rapist Who Vanished With A Woman And Her Newborn Baby
Friends who are worried about her have asked her to call the police when she vanished in 1989 along with her partner, a sex offender who had raped a neighbor while holding her hostage and brandishing garden shears.
Constance Marten, 35, and Mark Gordon, 48, a registered sex offender who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the US for a horrific sex attack in which he held a neighbor captive at the age of 14, are currently missing.
Tonight, as friends of Ms. Marten expressed their worries for the young mother who has been missing for 12 days, the awful particulars of his victim’s torture were made public for the first time.
Gordon’s mother last night claimed her son is a ‘good boy’ and that he has secretly married the British aristocrat, saying she ‘does not know what all this is about’.
Ms Marten and her partner Mark Gordon have been missing since January 5 after their car broke down and caught fire on the M61. The pair were seen leaving the motorway on foot with their newborn
Gordon’s 2010 arrest photograph, as released by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement
Gordon was born in Birmingham, West Midlands, but when he was a little toddler in 1989, he, his mother, and his half-siblings migrated to the US.
In April of that year, at the age of just 14, Gordon attacked his neighbor with a kitchen knife and a pair of garden shears, holding her captive for four and a half hours, and sexually assaulting her.
At the time of the attack, two young children were dozing in the room next door, according to the documentation.
US court records describe how Gordon is said to have broken in through the woman’s bathroom window, before finding a pair of her stockings which he used as a makeshift mask to cover his face.
Once he had encountered his victim, the documents state: ‘The suspect ordered the victim back into the bedroom and while still armed, demanded that the victim undress.’
He is then said to sexually assaulted and raped the victim.
There were a total of six charges against Gordon relating to the April 29 attack: one count of armed kidnapping, four separate counts of armed sexual battery and one count of burglary with a deadly weapon. He was convicted on all charges.
The file described Gordon’s actions once he had entered the house: ‘The suspect placed a nylon stocking over his face to conceal his identity since he lived next door and was known by her.
‘The suspect was armed with a kitchen knife as well as a pair of hedge clippers and after the victim came out of her bedroom to investigate the dogs barking, came across the suspect lurking just outside her bedroom door.
‘The victim was held for a period of approximately four-and-a-half hours against her will by the armed intruder.
‘After Miranda [being given the right to remain silent], the suspect admitted to the crime and gave a sworn, taped statement outlining the sequence of events as they occurred.
‘It should be noted that during the commission of the crime, the victim’s two small children were sleeping in their bedroom.’
Gordon was tried as an adult and sentenced to 20 years in jail after finally being arrested following six weeks spent on the run.
Just a few weeks after the initial assault, Gordon carried out another brutal armed raid while still on the run.
On May 21, he stole into a man’s home while the victim was asleep, took a kitchen knife, and when the victim awoke, he had been pummeled around the head with a large shovel.
In accordance with court records, Gordon came upon the man, who was one of several people living there, as he awoke unexpectedly from his bed, “at which point the defendant pummeled the victim about his head and body” with the shovel.
He abandoned the victim with grievous injuries before fleeing empty-handed.
A month later, on June 13, Gordon was apprehended by police after confessing to both raids.
Constance Marten, pictured on the right, at Mist Mag party in 2013 with two other women
Constance Marten – pictured again at the 2013 party – has been missing for two weeks
Constance Marten’s social media presence showed a creative side in her early years
The car the pair were driving broke down and caught fire, as seen in this picture from police
Police released this picture of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon outside East Ham station at around 11.45am on January 7
Last night, his mother Sylvia, 83, claimed the pair had secretly married ‘some time ago’ after Ms Marten became pregnant.
She said: ‘I am very concerned. I love my son. He is a good boy so I don’t know what this is all about.
‘I am worried for all of them. I am thinking, I wonder if someone kidnapped them?’
Friend Noisette Tahoun, who Ms Marten met while studying abroad in Egypt as part of her degree in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, has issued an emotional appeal for Ms Marten to get in touch with her loved ones.
She said Ms Marten ‘started being distant from everyone’ when she met Gordon in 2016, and stopped replying to messages, even from her family.
Noisette said: ‘She seemed fine when I visited her in the UK, and then she would message me saying we needed to catch up and find the right time.
‘But when she got with her recent partner, she started being distant from everyone and not replying to any messages. I spoke to her sister to check if she was okay, but she wasn’t hearing back from her either.’
She told The Mirror: ‘Constance is a magnificent person and just awesome, very kind and fun to be around. She’s spontaneous and the life of the party. I really wish to know anything about her and how she’s doing.’
On Ms Marten’s social media accounts, which were last posted on in 2020, multiple friends left comments on her posts asking where she was and begging her to respond to their messages.
One friend wrote: ‘Where in the world are you? I’ve missed your beautiful spirit in my life!’
It comes after film producer Napier Marten issued a plea to his estranged daughter Constance to get herself and the child to safety.
Mr Marten, son of Mary Anna Marten, whose godmother was the late Queen mother, told the Independent: ‘Darling Constance, even though we remain estranged at the moment, I stand by, as I have always done and as the family has always done, to do whatever is necessary for your safe return to us.
‘I beseech you to find a way to turn yourself and your wee one into the police as soon as possible, so you and he or she can be protected.
‘Only then can a process of healing and recovery begin, however long it may take, however difficult it may be.
‘We are deeply concerned for your and your baby’s welfare.
‘I would like you to understand that the family will do all that is needed for your wellbeing.
‘And I also wish you to understand you are much, much loved whatever the circumstances.’
Ms Marten has now been missing for nearly two weeks.
Yesterday the Metropolitan Police, who are leading the search to find the pair and newborn, said they have a substantial amount of cash on them from a multi-million trust fund that permits them to live off-grid.
They have no luggage with them after most of their belongings were destroyed in the car fire, and they are using money to pay for taxis.
Police are worried for the newborn and say neither Ms Marten nor the baby have had medical attention since the birth.
The couple are understood to have lived an isolated life since meeting in 2016 in London, with then-drama student Ms Marten cutting off ties with family and friends.
It is not clear how they met, but Gordon is believed to have lived locally to her and worked as a labourer.
Last September, they began moving around the country, renting AirBnBs for brief periods.
On January 5, they were traveling on the M61 when their vehicle caught fire and malfunctioned close to exit four in Farnworth, Bolton.
The couple then took a taxi to Anchor Lane Bridge, where they boarded another to travel to Harwich, Essex.
On January 6 and 7, when they boarded another taxi to East Ham Station in Newham, London, they were spotted near Colchester.
When Ms. Marten and Mr. Gordon are seen on camera, they are either hiding their faces or turning away while keeping the infant hidden.
The couple, according to investigators, appears to be skilled at eluding law enforcement, making their capture more difficult.
Constance Marten – whose nickname was Toots – comes from an aristocratic family
Police believe they could be anywhere in the UK and are appealing to the public to come forward with any information that may help find them.
Some 200 officers are working on the search and have scoured through more than 200 hours of CCTV footage since the pair were last seen on January 7.
Gordon’s conviction relates to a Florida attack on a woman in her early 20s when he was 14.
Ms Marten is the granddaughter of Mary Anna Marten, whose godmother was the late Queen mother.
The family used to own the Crichel estate in Dorset.
After her car broke down on the M61 near Bolton on Thursday evening, Ms Marten is believed to have been spotted wrapped in red blanket in Harwich Port, Essex on Saturday at 9am
Who Is Constance Marten
Constance’s ancestors: George Marten with wife Mary and daughters Victoria, Charlotte and Georgina
Judith Marten, 35, The Grade I-listed mansion, four villages, a cricket club, and a lake were all part of her family’s £100 million Dorset estate, and Vogue’s website covered her brother’s marriage to a social jewelry designer last summer.
She went to the exclusive St. Mary’s School in Shaftesbury, where she earned the moniker “Toots,” and it is believed that she then attended the University of Leeds to study Arabic and Middle Eastern studies.
She later received training in photography and journalism.
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She is the granddaughter of Toby Marten, a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy and equerry to George VI, and his wife Mary Anna, who had close links to the Royal Family, attending the Brownies pack at Buckingham Palace alongside Princess Margaret in her youth.
