Two years ago he was a successful technology consultant living in a Manchester flat and enjoying weekends with his 4-year-old daughter.

Now Henry da Massa lives in a shabby one-room basement apartment in East York. His walls are covered in cue cards, maps and diagrams — clues he collects for the new job that is his life’s mission: Finding Pearl.

Life as da Massa knew it stopped on Dec. 5, 2008, when his ex-girlfriend, Helen Gavaghan, fled to Mexico with their child. Gavaghan has been on the run with Pearl ever since and — much to da Massa’s surprise — was last spotted in Toronto.

When da Massa, 40, learned from Manchester police in March that Gavaghan and Pearl had been living in the Parkdale area for about a year, he packed up his things and moved across the Atlantic.

He expected to be in Toronto for two weeks. Six months later he still hasn’t found Pearl, who is now 6 years old.

But the only count that matters to him is this one: “Twenty months and a couple of days.”

That’s how long it’s been since he has seen his daughter.

“It’s an incredible amount of time for a child when a summer break feels endless,” he says, his eyes welling up behind horn-rimmed spectacles.

“My life doesn’t bear any resemblance to what it used to be.”

Manchester police allege that in early December 2008, Helen Gavaghan withdrew a large amount of cash from her bank account and changed her name to Meta International.

With Pearl in tow, Gavaghan flew from England to Cancun, and crossed the Mexico-U.S. border into Texas on foot a few weeks later, police say.

The English High Court has ruled that Pearl’s removal from England was unlawful.

By January 2009, Gavaghan and Pearl were living in Toronto, where Gavaghan switched to the name Dana Flaherty, and Pearl became known as Belle. Gavaghan allegedly provided child care services and was involved in home-schooling groups.

The pair lived at an address in the Parkdale area, but by the time Toronto police officers went to check it, they had left.

But months later, in July, Pearl was spotted in the same area. Police believe they may still live there.

Da Massa says he and Gavaghan, 33, had a rocky relationship and split up before Pearl was even a year old.

He says things really fell apart when he was granted a shared residence order, which meant that Pearl would spend a lot more time with him.

Still, he says for about six months after the court order he thought things were going really well. He later learned that Gavaghan had been planning the whole time.

“It did turn out that as soon as that order was made Helen began to put together the building blocks for leaving England,” he says.

He found out his daughter was missing in early December.

Da Massa got a call from a friend of Gavaghan’s, who said she and Pearl had gone to India on vacation — for a month.

He was flabbergasted.

Worried and upset, he contacted police. But da Massa says he still had no idea that Gavaghan was on the run.

“There was no way I believed that they weren’t coming back from their holiday.”

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Da Massa says one of the hardest things he has had to deal with is that he has no idea why Gavaghan left the way she did.

“I can’t answer the question as to why this has happened. I’d like to know myself,” he says. “We won’t know until Helen has given her version.”

He is careful when asked about his ex and won’t say much about her except that she was probably looking for an escape from lots of things in her life in England, including debt.

He has no idea where Gavaghan got the money police say she withdrew from her bank account before leaving England. He says her parents were incredulous when they found out she had so much cash.

When he met her, Gavaghan was working in a jazz bar.

He says she is an “incredibly complex person” who has a “very complex relationship with the world around her.”

He is adamant that once Gavaghan and Pearl are located, he will find a way to rebuild a trusting relationship with the mother of his child — for Pearl’s sake.

“There’s no question of that,” he says.

He worries about the psychological effect this whole ordeal will have on Pearl, but says proudly that she is a “very strong, healthy, sturdy, smart kid.”

“She’s probably provided a lot of support to Helen during this time,” he says, his eyes welling up again.

Still, he is hopeful. Manchester and Toronto police continue to investigate and search for Gavaghan and Pearl.

Da Massa says he is closer than he’s ever been to getting his daughter back.

“I think in a way Helen will want to bring this to an end,” he says.

“I think we’re almost at the point where Pearl will be located and we can all go home.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-5930, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-8477, or Child Find Ontario 1-800-387-7967.