Disappearance of Henry Borynski

Henry Borynski (born c.1911) was a Polish priest who disappeared on 13 July 1953 in Bradford, Yorkshire. Borynski was the Roman Catholic chaplain to the Polish community in Bradford. At the time of his disappearance Borynski was described as being six ft tall, and weighing 14 stone. His disappearance remains unsolved.

Background

In the early 1950s there were 6,000 European refugees in Bradford, with Borynski chaplain to the 1,500 Poles in the city.^[1] After escaping Poland in 1940, Borynski had been a priest in Bradford, a position he had held for only 10 months. He had come to Bradford to replace a Canon Martynellis. Martynellis had refused to leave Bradford and relocate elsewhere.^[1] Martynellis had spent 18 months in a Russian Soviet concentration camp in Siberia at the start of World War II.^[1]

Borynski was one of several Yorkshire based Polish chaplains who led protests in October 1952 against the activities of Russian Soviet agents in the Bradford area.^[1] It was rumoured that officials from the Soviet Embassy in London had visited refugees' homes after dark, pressuring them to return to Eastern Europe. Refugees had also received letters pressuring them to return to their own countries.^[1]

Circumstances

Borynski received two telephone calls on 13 July 1953.^[2] Following the first telephone call, he visited Canon Martynellis. Martynellis later told reporters that Borynski had come to see him because he said he had received a telephone call from someone purporting to be speaking on his behalf. Mártynellis had not phoned him, nor had authorised anyone to.^[2]

Later in the evening, Borynski received a second telephone call from a man speaking Polish.^[2] Borynski was heard by his Polish housekeeper to speak in short, clipped sentences during the call, different from his normal cheerful disposition. Borynski said "Now this has come, I go", and left his lodgings at Little Horton Lane wearing an overcoat and hat, which he rarely did on a summer's evening. Borynski left his wallet and personal papers at the house, and had 10 shillings on his person.^[2]

Aftermath

British Police were alerted to look for Borynski, though they thought it unlikely that he had been kidnapped.^[2] In November a question was asked of Borynski's disappearance in the House of Lords by Lord Vansittart. The Home Secretary replied to Vansittart that nothing suggested that he was the victim of foul play.^[3]

A month after Borynski's disappearance Martynellis was found collapsed at his home.^[4] Martynellis subsequently claimed that he had been visited by two men who ordered him to ‘keep quiet priest’.^[4] Two years after Borynski's disappearance Martynellis died of a heart attack.^[4]

In 1962 it was claimed that assassin Bogdan Staschynski said that he had killed Borynski using a cyanide spray, and buried his body on Ilkley Moor. The reports of Staschynski's involvement were claimed to result from mistaken identity.^[5]

John Heenan was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Leeds at the time of Borynski's disappearance. Heenan later became Archbishop of Westminster and was made a cardinal by Pope Paul VI.^[4] As Bishop, Heenan advised police to exclude Martynellis as a suspect in Borynski's disappearance, and called suggestions of his involvement "absurd". Martynellis was never charged before his death.^[4]

Theories

In 2003 a retired British police detective, Bob Taylor, claimed on an edition of the BBC's Inside Out programme that Borynski was murdered by the Polish Secret Police.^[6] Taylor claimed that Martynellis, a colleague of Boynski, was involved with Polish agents in arranging Borynski's abduction, saying that "Martynellis may have been told that this was the way to keep his old job and that he did not realise what he was getting involved in until it was too late."^[4][6] Taylor said of Catholic officials that "knew more than they disclosed to police in Bradford at the time.^[4]

References