A Manchester aid worker captured in Ukraine sent a message to his two daughters telling them 'I love you so much' before he tragically died - and it's now been delivered to them in person by a freed hostage he was held and tortured with, reports the Sunday Mirror.
Paul Urey, 45, from Manchester, was captured along with another worker, 22-year-old Dylan Healy, on April 25 at a checkpoint south of the city of Zaporizhzhia in south-eastern Ukraine. Mr Urey later died in captivity.
Mr Healy, reveals the Sunday Mirror, told Mr Urey's grieving daughters, sisters Courtney and Chelsea: "Your dad loved you and thought about you every day." He has told how he and Mr Urey endured a mock execution and were relentlessly tortured by Russian troops.
The aid workers were ambushed during an aid mission in Ukraine, ordered out of their cars and forced to kneel by the roadside, Mr Healy said. One soldier cocked his gun - and he said he feared the worst. But it was a sick hoax as the man fired a shot into the ground between them before they were both bundled off to a prison, reports the Sunday Mirror.
After their ordeal, the pair vowed to each other that if the worst ever did happen to one of them, the other would contact their family. And after father-of-four Paul, 45, later died in captivity, Mr Healy kept that pledge during an emotional meeting with his pal's daughters Courtney, 17, and Chelsea, 21.
The human rights ombudsperson for the Moscow-supported leadership in Donetsk has previously said Mr Urey died in July of chronic illnesses and stress. He had Type 1 diabetes as well as a heart condition.
Contrary to reports, Mr Healy said he was at least able to tell Courtney and Chelsea the Russians did give their father medication. He told the Sunday Mirror: "Me and Paul promised that if anything happened we would speak to each other's families.
"He said, 'let my family know I love them, that I thought about them every day'. I never thought I'd have to do it – after we were captured, I thought we’d both die." And he said he told the sisters: "He was desperate to make it home to see you."
Courtney said: "It was difficult hearing what Dad went through, but at least we know the truth now. At one point there were reports he’d been dismembered. That was awful, but thankfully untrue."
She and Chelsea, of Warrington, were forced to raise £10,000 to repatriate his body after the Foreign Office refused to pay. His body is now in the UK and a post-mortem will be held before Paul can be laid to rest.
Mr Healy – who said he has survivor's guilt over Mr Urey's death – donated the final £60 to help hit their target. He said: "I was nervous meeting his daughters but it was good... like I've known them for years."
Chelsea said their meeting just a few days ago was a relief, adding: "I'm so grateful we heard it from him and not someone else. We didn’t want to pressure Dylan, didn’t want him to think he was being interrogated again. We're just so happy he agreed to meet us."
The sisters have invited Dylan to attend Paul's funeral.
Mr Healy, who was freed on September 21 with four other Britons, told how he was beaten with batons, tortured with electric prongs and waterboarded as his captors tried to extract a confession. Recalling the mock execution, he said: "All the gunman had to do was pull the trigger and we were gone. We were silent. He asked us if we had any last words and we said no.
"Then he fired a shot into the mud in the middle of the two of us. Paul went, 'that was a close one'."
It was a terrifying start to months of mistreatment before Mr Urey's death in captivity on July 10. His captors cited 'stress and medical reasons', but Ukraine suggested there were signs of torture after the body was released.
Mr Healy's life changed when Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. An Arsenal fan, he lived in Ely, Cambridgeshire, and worked as a hotel chef. Appalled by Vladimir Putin's aggression, he went to join the Ukrainian Foreign Legion, despite only ever being in the Army Cadets. His parents, Helen and Cliff, backed him.
Dylan said: "They were really supportive, they said, 'go, do it – but make sure to come home'. They were chilled, but mum cried at the station."
On March 15 he flew from Luton to Poland and was hailed at the Ukraine border by applauding refugees. Mr Healy was accepted by the Foreign Legion but changed his mind after growing alarmed by fighters’ lack of organisation and weapons training. He became an aid worker and met Mr Urey, who was rejected by the Foreign Legion for health reasons.
The pair teamed up to extract Ukrainians from danger zones and bonded over football and the fact both were adopted. They were making a 460-mile journey from Odessa to Zaporizhzhia to rescue a mum and two children when they were captured in May. A nine-hour trip in a Skoda Fabia took them via a 50-yard minefield, following existing tracks to get past safely.
Before crossing they messaged loved ones, saying: "If we don’t make it out, know it was worth it." Then, 30 minutes from their destination, they were stopped by a guard after passing a Russian checkpoint. Mr Healey went on to reveal the torture he suffered.
"When I spoke to Paul he said this hadn’t happened to him," he added. "They wanted to know how we’d got behind the lines and why – and if we were British spies. There were regular beatings, every day. They had old-style police batons and my ribs were broken.
"The Russians have a love of Tasering, they had these long prongs which they put in your skin. Paul had been Tasered, he said it was easier than he thought it would be."
Reunited with his parents and labradoodle Arthur, Mr Healy said he was now slowly processing his ordeal. He said will see Chelsea and Courtney again at Mr Urey's funeral, adding: "I'll definitely stay in touch.
"This is not over for them or any of us – they’re going through something completely different and I can only try to help them."
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