Glamorous wife of 'missing' millionaire flees Britain with £1.6m and children

Dana Al-Hafeed, 38, left the country and went into hiding after she cashed in assets from her husband's now failed business.

She departed with the couple's 13-year-old daughter and two sons, aged eight and four.

Mrs Al-Hafeed has contacted police via email to say they are safe but refuses to reveal where they are.

Her disappearance comes almost two years after her husband, property dealer Sarwar Al-Hafeed, 37, went missing amid fears he had been kidnapped over a lucrative land deal.

In May 2006, an international search began when Mr Al-Hafeed failed to turn up for work after leaving his home in Didsbury, Manchester.

Detectives fear the father of three was abducted after dispute over a property deal in his native Iraq.

Officers investigated his business interests in Britain and Iraq, and Dana offered a £500,000 reward for information about her husband's whereabouts.

Today, Greater Manchester Police confirmed Dana had sent a note indicating money taken from the business is rightfully hers and that she was not a suspect.

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'We are aware that Dana Al-Hafeed has now left the country,' said a spokesman.

'She has been in contact to say she is safe and well and at this current time there is no need for further police involvement.'

Now two companies the couple owned have been placed into administration after Dana become the sole director in the absence of her husband.

The administrator says he is trying to trace £1.65m missing from the accounts of her company Leadstay, a Manchester housing association.

Manchester City Council has also withdrawn its contract for the companies to house homeless families.

The cash was raised from the sale of three properties in August and taxes have not been paid.

Dermot Power, of Manchester-based BDO Stoy Hayward, is the administrator acting for both Leadstay and Dana's other company, Ducie Court.

He said: 'We have to track down the money from the property disposal and hope the paper trail doesn't go cold.'

Mr Al-Hafeed was last seen alive at 7.15am on May 31 2006 after leaving his home in his family's blue Ford Escort to go to work at nearby Ducie Court, where he worked as executive director of Leadstay, a housing association organisation.

Police said the missing man's car was seen parked next to a white van outside St Chad's church, in Fallowfield, at 7.40am.

Five weeks after her husband's disappearance, Mrs Al-Hafeed a co-director in the family firm, made a public appeal for help, saying: 'My family are just looking for a glimmer of hope that my husband is alright.

'My children and I are desperate for any news about where Sarwar may be. The weeks since he went missing have been like a blur; it's as if our lives have been put on hold until we find him.'

Mr Al-Hafeed was said to be involved in the import and export trade in the Middle East and was in dispute over title deeds with the land abroad.

The couple were described as 'successful business people' and any money made by the firm was automatically re-invested in the bank.