Police seek European warrant for missing mother

A EUROPEAN ARREST warrant is being sought from Interpol by Cyprus police for British woman Sarah Antoniou who has jumped bail and absconded with her young son for a second time.

According to head of Paphos CID, Klitos Erotoklitou, Sarah crossed over to the North of Cyprus in a taxi and police believe she has boarded a flight to the UK.

Erotoklitou told the Cyprus Mail, “We have applied to Interpol for a European arrest warrant for this woman and when we arrest her, the child will be brought back to Cyprus. It’s unclear as yet whether she will appear in court here in Cyprus or in the UK, but she will go to prison because she wasn’t permitted to leave the country or to take her son.”

Antoniou, 39, who was last year accused of plotting to hire two hit men to kill her estranged husband, Andros, is also facing trial for absconding with five-year-old Alex on a previous occasion when she allegedly took her son to the UK via the north despite the fact that he was on the stop list. She was forced to return him to Cyprus after an intervention by the British court.

She was recently released from prison in Nicosia after Attorney-general Petros Clerides, reduced the attempted murder charge to a lesser conspiracy charge, enabling her to be released on bail after British MEP Stuart Agnew intervened to help.

Part of the bail terms meant that Sarah had to hand over her travel documents including her passport over to police and make regular visits to the police station.

Antoniou reported to police on Tuesday morning, then appeared at court later on that morning in relation to the first alleged kidnapping. The case was adjourned after the accused woman said she had parted ways with her previous lawyer and needed time to brief her new one. She then picked up her son, who is now aged five, from school in Kissonerga and has not been seen since.

She was supposed to return the boy to his father at 6pm that evening but failed to show. He then contacted the police who issued an local arrest warrant on Wednesday.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.