A former British soldier who went to Ukraine to help the war effort against Russia was unlawfully killed by a “comrade”, a coroner has found.
Daniel Burke, from Manchester, was helping the Ukrainian armed forces but was killed far from the front line in August 2023 by someone he knew, an inquest was told.
Manchester-area coroner, Zach Golombek, said Mr Burke, 36, “died bravely and bravely and was sadly killed by cowardice and dishonor”.
The court was told that the suspect in the murder, an Australian national, is wanted by Ukrainian police after fleeing the war-torn country.
‘unarmed’
Abdulfattah ‘Adam’ Nourin, a fighter in the Ukrainian army known as “Jihadi Adam”, who was not named in the investigation but is known to Greater Manchester Police, told Ukrainian police that he had killed Mr Burke. Accidentally shot them while they were both practicing. 27 miles (44 km) from the front line.
The remains of former paratrooper Mr Burke were found buried in an underground pipe at a military training ground in the Zaporizhzhia region.
“While there was initial evidence that it was an accident, I rule this out based on the evidence gathered by the Ukrainian authorities and Greater Manchester Police,” Mr Golombek said.
“[Mr Burke] was unarmed and unable to defend himself.”
Detective Sergeant Daniel Blount told the hearing that Mr Burke set up a company called the Dark Angels, a group of ex-servicemen who went to the front line to evacuate the wounded.
The inquest heard he had previously traveled to Syria to fight against the so-called Islamic State after being “deeply affected” by the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017.
Mr Burke’s mother Diane Sneath told the BBC: “I will always be heartbroken because Daniel has gone and gone in, you know, such a horrible way that I will never get over it.
“Never.”
‘impossible’
Det Sgt Blunt said that on August 11, Mr Burke spoke to his family in the morning and planned to contact them on FaceTime later that day.
CCTV showed him spending the day with Mr Noreen and traveling to an abandoned training ground in the late afternoon.
As part of a local police investigation into Mr Burke’s disappearance, the suspect was interviewed and gave different versions of events, the inquest heard.
He led Ukrainian police to Mr Burke’s body and told them he had accidentally killed him during a training exercise.
He claimed he fired at least two shots – one by mistake while he was escorting Mr Burke to a training exercise and the other for unknown reasons.
The court heard a post-mortem examination found Mr Burke had been shot at least three times – in the head, lower neck and central chest.
Det Sgt Blunt told the inquest that the results of a ballistics investigation carried out in Ukraine suggested it was impossible to accidentally fire the weapon, an assault rifle.
More questions
The BBC understands that in February Ukrainian police sent a request for legal assistance to the Australian consulate to help bring Noreen in for further questioning.
The representation was made by the Office of the General Prosecutor of Ukraine.
To date, the BBC understands there has been no response to Ukraine’s request.
“I don’t see why. [Mr Nourine] Have a normal life and just go away and think it’s okay”, said Mrs Snaith.
“If he was a trained soldier, he wouldn’t have let that gun fire. There’s no way. And apparently, from what I’ve heard, it takes a lot to pull that trigger,” he added.
The BBC has contacted Australian diplomatic officials in the UK for a response.
Additional reporting by PA Media.