In May 2007 I decided to go to Greece to work as an overseas holiday representative for Kosmar Holidays, It was for a six months period that I would be positioned in Sidari on the island of Corfu. One of the accommodations I would work at was the hotel San George where Axilleas Mouzakitis was the owner.

Soon after meeting we began a relationship, it was just like any other relationship and we had good moments and Axilleas seemed to be really keen and also very charming. Axilleas claimed to be younger than what he actually was, stating that he was in his early thirties when in reality he was two years off becoming forty. After finding out his actual age of 38 I had already had feelings for him and decided to continue our relationship regardless of the age difference of 17 years, him being my senior. He also claimed he had never been married or in a serious relationship, which I found odd since he was a successful business man, attractive and almost 40 years old. I however didn’t doubt him, why would I? We were together and making a future.

After the summer was over he asked me to move in with him in Athens, this was where he lived for the winter months. Soon after having moved into his house in Athens I fell pregnant with our son who was to be born out of wedlock. Our relationship started to go down hill in my fourth month of pregnancy, his attitude towards me was vile and had little respect for me and would allow his family especially his mother to treat me in a very ill manner and on one occasion his mother called me a cunt. I struggled on to try to be a part of his family and to be accepted by them however I was an outsider and was always made to feel like an outsider and I was constantly called uneducated by Axilleas.

The above is just a small part of the verbal and mental abuse I suffered in the five years I spent with the father of my child.

I later was disturbed when in April 2012 I found a wedding ring and marriage certificate in his bedside table (he had been suspicious about me cleaning out these draws for years) I was mortified to find out he had been married and also was still legally married when I was pregnant with Yiannis. This is something I should have been told about; this left me doubting anything he would say to me. Bearing this in mind and the added fact that I feared for my safety after Axilleas stated that the only way I would return with my little boy to England would be in a box with four men carrying me! After sleeping with my bedroom door locked for a lock time and being on edge I decided to end my relationship with Axilleas. It took all the willpower and strength i had to tell him I wanted to split up. He decided to take our son to Corfu for 15 days and signed an agreement to say that he would return my son on the 11th May 2012, claiming he was doing this to help give me time to clean out my things and move out.

During the two weeks I would call Axilleas to speak to my son and check he was okay and eating well and that he sounded happy, on occasions he didn’t he would be screaming and upset and telling me ‘I want to go back to our house with you’ this pained me to hear my little 3 year old to say that on the phone to me.

Soon enough the 11th May 2012 came around and there was no sign of Axilleas and my little boy, so I called him and asked why they hadn’t returned he claimed that Yiannis had a temperature and that his pediatrician had advised that Yiannis shouldn’t travel until he was well enough (the pediatrician hasn’t yet confirmed this). I was suspicious but I had no other choice but to wait patiently, all I cared about was that my little boy was well and healthy.

On 13th May 2012 at 8pm Axilleas and Yiannis arrived back at the house where we lived, Yiannis jumped out of the car shouting ‘mummy, mummy, mummy, mummy’ He hugged and kissed me so tight confirming that he had missed me just as much as I had missed him. I had spent only an hour with Yiannis when Axileas had ushered me out of his house, I told him I would take Yiannis with me he said ‘you need to sign a piece of paper confirming I can take him in 15 days again’ I refused telling him I am Yiannis’s mother and I don’t have to sign a piece of paper to agree to anything without my lawyer present. Axilleas told me to come back in the morning to collect Yiannis, I agreed not knowing it would be the last time I would see my little angel or hear his voice.

In the morning I left the hotel in which I had to stay because I had no family and only a few friends (due to Axilleas preventing me from making friends and socializing away from his family) I arrived at the house that we had once shared and saw the car was gone! I called Axilleas and he answered, stating they had to leave in the night because of a problem at his hotel. I very much doubted that this was the truth but all I could do was pray that he was telling the truth. Since then I haven’t heard from Axilleas, I have no idea if my son is okay or where he is or of his wellbeing. He doesn’t answer any calls from my numbers or from the payphones I call him from. The last time I heard anything from Axilleas was in a text message he sent saying ‘ Tell my son that I can’t live with out him and that his dad loved him more than life itself ‘ This left me frantically worrying as Yiannis was with him and I knew that Axilleas knew how to push my buttons.

I had worked in the hotel with Axilleas since we met, he had not given me a salary of my own nor any rights to money, he hadn’t even paid tax on my behalf. This meant I had neither money nor any rights to benefits, after getting the funds together to go ahead and press charges I went to the police station with my lawyer. Axilleas couldn’t be located at any of his or his family’s properties; it was suspected that he and his mother with were officially in hiding with my little boy. My nightmare just became even more serious, worrying and stressful, a mother hurting deeply having no idea where the little boy was, that she had taken care of everyday since he was born. I was also awarded full parental Responsibility of Yiannis in the Greek Court of law.

They had cunningly left Axilleas’ father running the family businesses in Corfu and left him claiming to the police he hadn’t seen his son since 15th May 2012.

The police called me asking me the same questions and claiming they had no news, that’s the last thing I needed to hear and was not helping.

I went to Corfu for myself (a trip which my family funded as I wasn’t employed and had no way of funding) I went to the local police staion where a police man was smirking and laughing and he said that Axilleas probably wouldn’t go to prison. I couldn’t believe what I had just heard, and that he seemed to think it was funny!

I got in touch with Smile of a child Charity and they offered support and understanding.

I also e-mailed Interpol which is a private police organization and I never got a reply.

I am still looking for my son who is almost 4 years old. I need all the support and help that I can get to find Yiannis, I am in Athens and seem to be getting little support emotionally and physically I have had no help from the British Embassy here and I am not sure where I can turn next. I just want my little boy back safe in my arms where he belongs.