Is this proof that missing mother planned to f lee?
Last picture shows lawyer at her girl’s birthday party ... which she ‘insisted on holding three weeks early’
IT appears to be a happy family scene simply showing a girl celebrating her 11th birthday.
But this photo could be a vital clue behind the mysterious disappearance of lawyer Renata Antczak, 49, almost three weeks ago.
Her husband, dentist Majid Mustafa, 47, has admitted she wanted a divorce and planned to return to her native Poland with their youngest daughter Victoria this summer – against his wishes.
He said his wife insisted they hold a party for their daughter on April 8, more than three weeks before her 11th birthday on April 30.
As Humberside Police continue to investigate what has happened to the mother of two, her husband believes she has joined a ‘sect’ after becoming obsessed with a form of alternative therapy.
The photo, taken at the family’s rented home in Hull, was produced by Dr Mustafa to support his theory. The birthday girl posed with her parents, sister Magda, 23, and her boyfriend Piotrek Zaton. It is the last known photo of Miss Antczak before she was reported missing. Dr Mustafa believes his wife was planning on vanishing all along. He said: ‘Why have the party early? Maybe because she was planning to go. There are many questions for which there are no answers.’
But the mystery deepened as a friend said they were sceptical about the sect idea.
On April 25 Miss Antczak dropped Victoria off at school, returned home and spoke to her husband, who said he was ill in bed that day. They had a ‘discussion’ about her returning to Poland with Victoria before Miss Antczak left the house on foot and has not been heard from since.
Police have confirmed the last known sighting was when she left home in Hull at 1pm. Dr Mustafa, who reported her missing when she failed to return home that day, said he had been ‘trying to get her to change her mind’ and still hopes she will return.
‘I still love her very much, I still miss her very much and I want her to come back. If she doesn’t want to stay with me, that’s her choice,’ he said. Miss Antczak had already left the marital bed and was making plans to enrol Victoria at school in Poland from next term. However, hopes are fading that she has simply fled an unhappy marriage to return home to Poland.
Dr Mustafa said his wife had not been in contact with her mother in Lodz and inquiries by police in Poland have failed to solve the mystery. According to Dr Mustafa, for the last six months Miss Antczak has been spending a week per month in Poland, apparently to train as a therapist for a homeopathic health treatment called TimeWaver. Miss Antczak qualified as a therapist and used a room at a friend’s hair salon in Hull for occasional sessions.
Dr Mustafa said: ‘At home she started to put candles everywhere, and joss sticks. After she’d gone we found some of her writing. It talked about her feeling free, free from relationships, free from everything.’ He said documents have been passed to police and he believes she was ‘brainwashed’ by an unidentified ‘sect’. ‘She does love me, but there’s something really strange in her behaviour in the last few months,’ he added.
But a friend, who asked not to be named, said yesterday: ‘I am angry about this and I am 100 per cent sure it is not true.’
The lawyer’s eldest daughter Magda is a student at the University of Central Lancashire. Miss Antczak is said to have recently told her: ‘Whatever happens, promise you’ll look after your sister.’ Magda, who was visiting her father at the weekend, said: ‘Please, just contact us. We are really upset and scared because we don’t know where she is.’
A Humberside Police spokesman said: ‘Mr Mustafa has passed his theory on to us and it is something that’s being considered. But at the moment we have no evidence that corroborates that. In fact, there is no evidence to suggest she has left the country.’