The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
Father of missing British soldier appeals to Yard for help
THE father of a British military volunteer missing in Ukraine has appealed for Scotland Yard to investigate his disappearance, amid reports his son had fallen out with colleagues.
Kevin Burke said his family had endured “a nightmare” since Daniel, 36, vanished from his flat in Zaporizhzhia three weeks ago.
“We want the investigation to be kept going as much as possible, and I would love to see a British police investigation too,” he said.
Mr Burke, a former paratrooper from Manchester, arrived in Ukraine at the start of the war and formed his own volunteer military unit, the Dark Angels, before switching to front-line rescue and evacuation work.
He was last seen on the evening of Friday Aug 11, when Nourine “Adam” Abdelfetah, an Australian volunteer, dropped him off at his apartment.
According to Mr Abdelfetah, 25, Mr Burke said he thought he might be coming down with food poisoning, and that he planned to spend the evening in.
He lent Mr Abdelfetah one of his two pick-ups for use that weekend, saying that he was not planning on using it.
When Mr Abdelfetah then sought to return the vehicle on the Sunday, he said he could not reach Mr Burke by phone and found he was not at his flat.
The police were notified of his disappearance by James Sutton, 34, a former British soldier who claimed he had never met Mr Burke but had purchased one of his two Mitsubishi pick-ups, which had then broken down.
When officers searched Mr Burke’s apartment, it still contained his medical gear, laptop, and a weapon, suggesting that he had not gone on a mission.
His father said his son was last in touch on the morning of his disappearance and had “sounded fine and happy”.
A source with knowledge of the case said: “It’s very mysterious – if Daniel had gone out drinking and got into a bar fight, for example, someone would have seen something. And a body would probably have been found by now.”
A prominent figure among Western military volunteers in Ukraine, Mr Burke had given several media interviews about his work, prompting fears that he could have been kidnapped by a cell of pro-Russian sympathisers.
However, there is no known record of such cells targeting foreigners.
Police have been studying CCTV footage to establish Mr Burke’s lastknown movements.
In the absence of any other explanation for his disappearance, speculation has mounted that he may have had a falling out with fellow volunteers, possibly over access to funding and equipment. Former comrades say that he had talked of an American millionairess who was donating nearly £8,000 per month, which he used to purchase specialist medical kit and two Mitsubishi L-200 pick-ups.
It is understood that Mr Burke had been seeking to work with Ukraine’s 78th Gertz Regiment where Mr Abdelfetah and Mr Sutton serve.
Former associates of Mr Burke have claimed that fellow volunteers may be linked to his disappearance, alleging that they became uncooperative in online discussion groups as to what had happened to him.
“The cops think Dan has been murdered and it’s been covered up,” one source said.
“When they interviewed Adam [Mr Abdelfetah], his commander pulled him out of the interview halfway ‘The cops think Dan has been murdered and it’s been covered up’ through and took him back to the front line, where the police have no jurisdiction because of martial law.” Mr Abdelfetah and Mr Sutton told
that they were victims of “paranoid rumours and conspiracy theories”, and were already doing their best to help the Ukrainian police.
Mr Burke’s father said he may go to Ukraine to seek out answers for himself.