Daughter reveals chilling phone call made hours after mum vanished 15 years ago – as cops find body buried in garden
A MYSTERY phone call could prove vital in cracking the cold case of a mum who vanished 15 years ago, The Sun can reveal.
Izabela Helena Zabłocka went missing in August 2010, aged 30, after moving to Derbyshire from Poland the previous year.
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But an investigation wasn't opened by British cops until last month, thanks to a baffling miscommunication gaffe.
Once the probe finally kicked into gear, officers made five arrests before finding remains in a back garden and charging a woman with murder on Friday - all within a matter of a couple of weeks.
Anna Podedworna, 39, also faces charges of preventing a lawful burial and perverting the course of justice.
Now, Izabela's daughter, Kasia, who was just nine when she vanished, has told The Sun about an odd phone conversation she had in the hours after her mum was first reported missing.
Kasia and her grandmother would speak to Izabela every day over the phone after her move to Britain - but when she suddenly stopped, they became frantic with worry.
The young girl had been continuously trying to contact her mum when an unknown woman answered and told her she didn't know Izabela and hung up.
Kasia told us: "It was a conversation of a few seconds, I was only a child.
"The woman, as far as I remember, told me that she doesn't know my mother, doesn't know who Izabela is, and hung up."
Soon after that, Kasia recalls, the phone was disconnected.
Her family - who don't speak English - relayed all of this to Polish cops at the time but the trail eventually ran cold, without any answers about what had happened.
Derbyshire Constabulary say the first they heard of Izabela was last month when Kasia, now 25, after years of appeals for help, got in touch on a whim.
She was as surprised as anyone that British cops hadn't been involved in the case at all - assuming Polish forces must have been liaising with them all these years.
And Izabela's case might not be the only one to slip through the cracks.
Speaking to The Sun, former top Scotland Yard cop Peter Bleksley said: 'Given all the circumstances, my question is how many more? How many other cases are like this in the UK?'
He said it's so easy for someone to move to the UK and then after months or even years disappear but because they're not part of a stable support network, are never reported to police.
He added: 'How many more have entered communities, but are murdered and done away with but no one is going to miss them?'
Of course, Izabela's family, particularly daughter Kasia, never did give up looking - but were let down by authorities again and again.
Speaking to The Sun after remains were found in the garden of a home in Princes Street - a road where Izabela had lived - last week, Kasia had said: 'I definitely want to know the truth as soon as possible.'
Her mum, who had called back home every day prior to vanishing on August 29 2010, had communicated to the family she planned to return home imminently.
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It's understood Kasia's grandmother had even sent her daughter money to buy a plane ticket but she never arrived and her phone was suddenly deactivated after the strange call.
When they reported her missing to Polish cops, it seems they simply assumed she'd made it back to her homeland.
They told Izabela's family they checked hospitals and prisons, and over the years did collect DNA samples, including hair from her wedding veil.
However, Kasia said the case was then archived in the mid-2010s, and her loved ones feared they would never learn what happened.
Mr Bleksley said: 'In terms of the Polish police, they paid it absolute lip service. Not in a hospital, not in a jail, don't really care.'
In contrast, he said the investigation by Derbyshire Constabulary 'moved at break neck speed', which is a credit to those involved.
'From it getting reported, even having heard her name for the first time, it's only days until someone has been arrested, re-arrested, and now in custody,' he continued.
'In stark contrast to the Polish police, Derbyshire have taken it very seriously, they must have made a considerable amount of enquiries to rapidly make arrests and nail the correct address, start excavating and unfortunately find remains.'
He said he hoped 'despite the passage of time' the remains 'provide a treasure trove of forensic evidence'.
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Mr Bleksley went on to say: 'It smacks to me that somebody was desperate to tell the police what they knew, and they had been waiting for that knock on the door all that time.'
He said the excavation 'will be absolutely painstaking' because 'any tiny microscopic' piece of forensic evidence 'will be crucial to nailing the case'.
'This is almost like a textbook test of modern forensic science,' he added.
Asked if he believes Izabela - if the remains prove to be hers - was killed by someone she knew, Mr Bleksley said: 'That is very difficult to speculate. The fact that arrests were made so swiftly, indicates to me that these were people that were known to each other - that I will say…
'I'm not being intentionally flippant here but they are going to solve this.
'Somebody, I feel, is desperate to tell people what they saw. That's why it's galloped forward so quickly. Someone's almost gone 'oh I thought you'd never come - right okay, this is what I saw, this is who did it.''
Mr Bleksley added: 'As much as we criticise our police, and as much as we at times fall short and fail us all, by and large, when it comes to the big, serious, major investigations, they do very well.'
He pointed to examples of Brits who have lost loved ones abroad and they've remained unexplained, including Madeleine McCann.
'We sometimes have a lot to be grateful for when it comes to our police force investigating serious crime,' he said.
Mr Bleksley also added that had Madeleine - who vanished while on holiday in Portugal in 2007, aged three - gone missing 'under similar circumstances' in the UK, 'that case would have been solved a very long time ago'.
During his career he's worked with police forces across the world, including the US, Belgium, France and the Netherlands, sometimes undercover.
He championed British forces, in comparison, for their work ethics and systems of investigation.
Asked if whilst working in other countries he recognised blindsides in local cops' working, he said: 'I did, which is why I was called in so often to help foreign law enforcement with their cases.'
The existence of the likes of Europol, Interpol and the National Crime Agency designed to help police communicate internationally, it may appear archaic that a case like Izabela's can fall through the cracks.
'They can only be effective if the liaison through different countries is good,' said Mr Bleksley.
'In this case, it was appalling to the extent of being non-existent.
'If the Polish police had done their job properly, this case would've been solved years ago.'
Asked if it is likely there will be some kind of watchdog probe into what went wrong in Poland, Mr Bleksley said: 'That I don't know, that would be a matter for the family, I'm sure for any forces in the UK, litigation would be pursued, of course, not to mention the complaints procedure.
'I don't know what the situation is in Poland with regards to that.
He added: 'There's plenty more embarrassment for the Polish police force coming down the line if this case runs its course and ends up in a trial.'
Asked if there's any chance Derbyshire Police were simply mistaken and, despite their assertions, ignored communications with Poland over the years about the case, Mr Bleksley said it's unlikely.
'Everything gets logged these days. Everything goes into the computer system and lives there forever.
'Derbyshire Police wouldn't have been as bullish as they have been by saying we had no trace of this if actually they didn't have any trace.'
'I did everything to publicise my mum's disappearance'
Kasia told The Sun last week, prior to the remains discovery: "When Mum went missing, I was 9 years old, I was a child.
"It was only when I became an adult that I took up the search for Mum again.
"I did everything to publicise my mother's disappearance; it took me a lot of time, but I hope I will find out the truth."
She went on to say: "My family reported the case to the Polish police 15 years ago, but now we are finding out that the British police did not receive the report during those 15 years, and they have only just started an investigation.
"The Polish police only checked prisons and hospitals and didn't find anything significant, and after a few years, the disappearance case went to the archive."
She continued: "I started looking for her on my own as soon as I became an adult.
"I started publicising my mother's disappearance in Poland, in the media and on YouTube. I did everything I could, and Polish charities helped me with this.
"I started making posters about my mother's disappearance. I wrote to the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London, and they wrote back that they would check the prisons in England and Wales, but I did not receive any information on whether this was actually checked."
The 25-year-old had hoped her mum had simply decided to start a new life, and she would suddenly appear with a new identity.
However, those hopes were quashed when murder arrests were made, with Kasia admitting: "I'm very upset by the news I've received, and I'm so sorry that I received this message and not another one.
"I've been looking for her for 15 years, and I hope I finally find out the truth."
Two other women aged 39 and 43, and two men aged 41 and 48, were arrested on suspicion of murder and all remain on police bail pending further inquiries
Detective Inspector Kane Martin, who is leading the investigation, said after the body was found: 'Izabela's family are at the forefront of our minds following this discovery and, whilst formal identification has not yet taken place, it is our belief that these remains do belong to Izabela."
Mr Martin went on to say: 'We have spoken with Izabela's family in Poland, and they are aware. Our thoughts are with them at this extremely difficult time.
'Identification of the remains is likely to be a lengthy process, but we will issue updates when we are able.
'I know that reports of these findings will send shockwaves through the local community, and I understand the concern of residents.
'Officers will remain in Princes Street in the coming days, and anyone with concerns is encouraged to speak with them."
DI Martin explained that a "dedicated team of detectives" would continue their investigation to "piece together information" about the days leading up to Izabela's death.
Izabela worked at the former Cranberry Foods chicken and turkey factory in Scropton, around 10 miles west of Derby.
Crimestoppers is offering up to £20,000 for exclusive information relating to the investigation that leads to a conviction, with the reward valid for three months until August 27.
Anyone with information can contact the charity via its website, Crimestoppers-uk.org, or by calling 0800 555 111.
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