The sister of a missing woman feared to be among two found dead in the freezer of an east London flat has paid an emotional visit to the scene yesterday.
Mary Jane Mustafa, a 38-year-old mother-of-two who went missing last May, is said to have been seen at the flat in Canning Town shortly before her disappearance.
Her older sister came to the scene with friends – but insisted she cannot believe her sister is one of the dead.
Flanked by a cousin, she told MailOnline: ‘It’s my baby sister… I can’t believe she is dead.’
The sister, Mel Mustafa, added: ‘She was the most kind-hearted person you could meet.
‘The police have been keeping me updated but I’ve not had any confirmation. I now have to hope that she’s still alive.’
Mary Jane’s cousin Ceylon Sunda added: ‘The whole family are upset.’
Another cousin Ayse Hussein said: ‘It’s a horrible waiting game. If that is not my cousin then it’s someone else’s child. It’s just terrible.’
On Monday evening, detectives arrested a 50-year-old man, named locally Ted Jolly, and a 34-year-old man, who has not been named, was detained yesterday morning. The 50-year-old man was released under investigation last night, while the 34-year-old remained in custody.
Ms Mustafa’s sister today confirmed Mary Jane had been friends with Mr Jolly before she went missing.
The sister of Mary Jane Mustafa, second from the right, visited the scene in east London where two women’s bodies were found. Locals fear one of the bodies is that of Ms Mustafa
Two bodies have been found in a flat in east London. Locals fear one of them could be missing mother-of-two Mary Jane Mustafa
Ms Mustafa’s family said police had not been in contact with them and they still hope that she will return home after being missing for a year
The flat is said to be home to a sex offender, although police have refused to confirm this
Police yesterday began a search of a property, understood to be Mr Jolly’s home, less than half a mile from where the bodies were found.
Local residents say Ms Mustafa had also been seen at that property – known as ‘the local crack den’ – before she went missing.
A neighbour added: ‘This woman disappeared last May but I’d always see her at this house. She’s stay there regularly.
‘A couple of months after she went missing, I asked him where she was, if he’d seen her, and he said “we had an argument so I slung her out”.
Residents of the area say they fear there could be more bodies stashed in other homes.
One neighbour of the flat where the bodies were found claimed: ‘An officer dealing with this case said there could be more like this in another property.’
Speaking of a man called ‘Ali’ he’d seen coming and going from the flat where the bodies were found, the neighbour added: ‘He is a known sex offender and he pimps girls out… he said he is wanted for breaching something.’
The bodies were found in 50 Vandome Close. Police began searching another property
A police forensics tent has been put in the back garden of the property in Canning Town
A police cordon remains in place at a flat in east London where two bodies were found
The new property being searched is less than half a mile away. Police stood on guard yesterday
The Met Police has refused to say whether they are hunting for the resident or if he even forms part of their investigation.
A murder probe has been launched. Police experts are still trying to establish the identities and ages of the two people killed.
Ms Mustafa, a 38-year-old mother, went missing a year ago. She was last seen on a London bus
The last time Ms Mustafa was seen alive was with £3 on a journey to a shop in May 2018.
However, when approached this week by MailOnline, her family said the police had not been in contact with them and they still have hope that she will return home.
Her niece Hazel Ozulku wrote on Facebook last night: ‘There is no need to think negative at this point because we still believe she is fine and she will come home.’
Her sister Zeynep Mustafa Sukan wrote: ‘When are you coming home, sis? I miss you like you wouldn’t believe!’
A missing persons investigation was launched last year into the disappearance of Ms Mustafa, originally from Cyprus.
In January, her cousin Ayse Hussain urged anyone with information to come forward.
She said: ‘She’s missed her own birthday, her daughter’s birthday and now Christmas.
‘I’ve been looking after her kids now and then, and I took her daughter Christmas shopping to keep her distracted. We just say mum has gone to sort herself out and say she’ll be back soon.
‘Her daughter has just started secondary school and her son is 19.’
Police made the gruesome find after they were called to a ground floor flat in a residential block in Canning Town on Friday morning. Police pictured at the scene with forensics officers
Police outside residential address on Vandome Close, E16, where two bodies have been found
A neighbour of the flat where the bodies were found said he heard a thud and a boom in the attic that runs above his flat a month ago.
Ray Hurdord, 63, said: ‘It sounded like somebody walking around up there. It was heavy like boom, boom, boom.
‘It was a thud, it would have been too heavy for an animal, it was too loud.
‘A bit of plaster came down after somebody was walking around up there.’
Another neighbour, who asked not to be named, said he know the resident of that flat only as ‘Ali’, and he was previously the boyfriend of Mary Jane Mustafa.
He said: ‘I knew Mary Jane for about three months – we were friends before she went missing.
‘She used to be a pretty young girl, a peaceful young person, no hassle. Ali was going out with her for a year.’
The local resident said police told him the bodies were ‘whole, not cut up’ and police were looking at other homes in the area.
Forensics officers bag unknown items outside the property which is occupied by ‘sex offender’
‘Post-mortem examinations will be held in due course. The investigation is being led by the Homicide and Major Crime Command,’ police said. Forensic officers pictured leaving the flat
Scotland Yard said they were called to the property shortly before midday on Friday by someone worried about the resident of the flat.
A police spokesman said: ‘Officers subsequently gained entry and discovered two bodies dead at the scene.
‘The bodies are believed to be those of two females. We are working to carry out formal identification and trace next of kin.
‘Post-mortem examinations will be held in due course. The investigation is being led by the Homicide and Major Crime Command.’
A neighbour claimed to know the suspect, dubbing him a ‘scumbag’.
‘He used to have parties in his flat where he’d bring a lot of girls and there’s be a lot of noise,’ the neighbour said.
‘Sometimes you’d hear shouting and arguing and you’d wonder what was going on down there.
‘I last saw him last Thursday when I confronted him about taking money off a 90-year-old friend of mine. He looked worried and said to me ‘now is not a good time’.
‘There was a woman with him, who I think was his carer because he had all sorts of health problems.
‘The bodies are believed to be those of two females. We are working to carry out formal identification and trace next of kin,’ police said
Forensics officers seen leaving the building with a camera and lighting equipment
‘She looked visibly shaken and was shaking her head and crossing herself in a religious way.
A woman visiting the murder scene just after 6pm tonight said she feared at first that her aunt, who lives at number 60, could have been one of the murder victims because she lives in the red brick two storey building.
She said: ‘I couldn’t tell you anything about what’s happened.
‘I just came to check on my aunt who lives here.
‘I’ve had her mum on the phone too.
‘When we saw the news we were worried it was her. But, thank God, she’s okay.’
A woman who lives on the ground floor flat of the council block to the right of the murder scene said she used to hear the man drinking outside with others.
She said: ‘I used to hear them drinking outside, but that is all I know.’
The bodies were found in a property in this cul-de-sac in Canning Town on Friday
Another neighbour, who gave only the name ‘Jake’, said the man who lived in the flat would often invite women with drug addictions to stay with him temporarily.
He said: ‘He and his mates would take girls back to the flat, sometimes they’d stay round there for days.
‘There would be loud noises from all night parties.’
There were also suggestions one of the victims had been reported missing from home some time ago as police went house-to-house in the area on Saturday asking residents questions.
One resident of the block of flats, who did not want to be named, said he had only just found out about two bodies being found.
‘I’m astonished, it’s a little community,’ he said.
‘We’re all tight-knit around here, everybody knows everybody.’
Scotland Yard last night said it was still working on identifying the victims and would not comment on claims made by locals.
A neighbour claimed to know the suspect, dubbing him a ‘scumbag’. Police pictured at scene
A post-mortem examination will be carried out in due course, the force said.
Yesterday, forensics officers were seen carrying sealed evidence bags out of the flat as a police officer stood guarding the entrance to the block.
The glass in the building’s front door had been covered up to prevent people seeing inside.
Met Commander Detective Chief Superintendent Richard Tucker said: ‘The launch of any murder investigation is naturally of concern to the local community and we have borough officers in the area supporting colleagues from the Homicide and Major Crime Command as they investigate the full circumstances.
‘A crime scene is in place and we would encourage anyone with information about what may have happened at this premises to contact police on 101, quoting CAD 4303/26APR.’
Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.