Verdicts of unlawful killing have been recorded on five British victims of the Flight MH17 missile attack after a coroner ruled that the atrocity was carried out by pro-Russian separatists. An inquest held at Leicester’s City Hall began with individual tributes to Liam Sweeney, 28, Richard Mayne, 20, Glenn Thomas, 49, John Alder, 63, and 20-year-old Ben Pocock.
A total of 298 people died when MH17 was shot down in eastern Ukraine on July 17 2014 while en route from Amsterdam to Malaysia. Leicester Coroner Professor Catherine Mason was told four individuals linked to a Donetsk-based Russian separatist group have refused to attend a trial pending in The Hague, at which they are accused of responsibility for the attack.
Giving evidence to the coroner on Friday, Detective Chief Superintendent Dominic Murphy, the head of operations for counter-terrorism policing unit SO15, described how a Dutch Safety Board Inquiry found a Buk missile system had downed MH17. A total of 10 of those on board were British, including the five subject to an inquest after their bodies were repatriated.
