The man who masqueraded as a member of the Rockefeller family was led into court in leg irons and handcuffs yesterday, looking nothing like the high-society figure he had played for years.

Clark Rockefeller, the former husband of Sandra Boss, a senior partner at the McKinsey & Co management consultancy in London, appeared before a judge in Baltimore after allegedly absconding with their seven-year-old daughter, Reigh, nicknamed Snooks, during a custody visit on July 27.

Mr Rockefeller wore a rumpled blue shirt, ill-fitting khaki trousers and sported untrimmed facial hair with thick prison-issue spectacles, making him almost unrecognisable from photographs showing him as a well-groomed “preppy”.

At the hearing, the man was referred to as Clark Rockefeller, despite his numerous aliases. He declined a lawyer and waived his right to fight extradition to Boston, where he faces kidnapping and assault charges. The only words he uttered were: “That is correct”, in response to a question from the judge.

Mr Rockefeller was arrested in Baltimore on Saturday, when FBI agents tricked him into leaving Snooks alone by getting the manager of a local marina to tell him that his boat was taking on water.

Police say that Mr Rockefeller planned to start a new life in the Baltimore area with his daughter.

Mr Rockefeller recently paid cash for a $450,000 (£230,000) carriage house in Baltimore and told the seller that he planned to live there with his daughter. John Day, the seller, told The Boston Globethat Mr Rockefeller used the name Chip Smith.

“I met him like a month and a half ago, when we were doing a walk-through in the house, and it’s funny, he mentioned that he was bringing his daughter here to live. So I guess he thought he was not going to get caught,” he said.

Bruce Boswell, who sold Mr Rockefeller a dilapidated 26ft (8m) catamaran for $10,000 at the start of the summer, toldThe Baltimore Sunthat he claimed to be the owner of a property company in Baltimore called Obsidian Realty.

To conclude the boat sale, Mr Rockefeller took Mr Boswell into Obsidian’s office after hours by typing in a code to the alarm. Mr Rockefeller said that his name was Chip MacLaughlin but he wanted to buy the boat in the name of Chip Smith because he “didn’t like the name MacLaughlin”. The owner of Obsidian is called Harry MacLaughlin, but a company representative said that he was not the phoney Rockefeller.

Julie Gochar, the managing partner of Obsidian, said that she contacted police after recognising Mr Rockefeller as the man she knew as Chip Smith. Mr Rockefeller had got in touch with the property agency last year, saying that he intended to buy a two-bedroom or three-bedroom house for himself and his daughter. The firm arranged for him to stay in temporary rental housing and allowed him to use the internet in its offices before selling him the carriage house, where he was arrested on Saturday.

“He presented himself as a single parent relocating himself and his daughter to Baltimore,” Ms Gochar said. “His only relationship with us was as a client.”

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