A dad-of-three says he was booted out of Turkey and forced to fly back to the UK because he shares the same name as a man from Manchester who had terror charges against him dropped.
Daniel Burke, 36, said his children and partner were 'terrified' and in tears when 'heavy-handed' Turkish military police hauled the family into a room at Dalaman Airport and questioned him about his 'links to Syria'.
He told how the Turkish authorities stamped 'cancel' on his passport and he was forced to fly back, leaving a planned family holiday in tatters.
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After arriving home, Mr Burke said a friend of his daughter's found stories about another man also called Daniel Burke of the same age, reports the Mirror.
The Manchester Evening News reported in 2020 on former paratrooper Mr Burke, from Baguley, Wythenshawe.
Two weeks after the Manchester Arena bombing, in 2017, he travelled out to Syria to fight against so-called Islamic State with the Kurdish YPG militia, but after he returned to the UK, he found himself arrested, charged with terror offences and locked up at HMP Wandsworth prison in London - where he was wrongly labelled as a jihadi by other prisoners.
It had been alleged he arranged with others to provide money and military equipment for terrorism and engaged in conduct in preparation to commit, prepare or instigate an act of terrorism - and he spent seven months in prison before charges against him were dropped at the Old Bailey following a Crown Prosecution Service review.
The other Mr Burke, of Bishop Auckland, County Durham, had in to Turkey from Newcastle for a break in Fethiye with his partner, their 15-month-old baby girl and his daughter, 14, and son, nine.
He said: "They were hammering me about my links to Syria. They were asking when I was last in the country. They were wearing guns in holsters, and were very heavy handed. My partner and children were in the room, they were very upset – my eldest was in tears."
Of his namesake, photocopy service supervisor Mr Burke said: "He was a freedom fighter in my view, not a terrorist.
"But he fought against Turkish forces in the end, that's why my name was on their list. I don't look anything like him and he'll have a different date of birth. I don't know how many Daniel Burkes there are but I don’t want this to happen to anyone else."
He says he has had no apology from Jet2.
Jet2 said: "We have no control over decisions made by Turkish immigration authorities. However, our teams did all they could to support and assist Mr Burke and his family. We have since reached out to Mr Burke directly to apologise and explain this."
