Flight MH17: 'Who killed my uncle Glenn Thomas?' asks nephew

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-34467573

Version 0 of 1.

The Dutch aviation authority will on Tuesday publish its report into the shooting down last year of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine with the loss of all on board, including Glenn Thomas from Blackpool. His nephew Jordan Withers has been searching for answers about what happened ever since.

My uncle Glenn, a press officer for the World Health Organization who was based in Geneva at the time of his death, was en route to Australia for a conference on Aids.

His journalistic pedigree [Mr Thomas had worked as a journalist for the BBC and Granada] meant he was tenacious when it came to the basics of the trade known as the five Ws - what? when? where? who? and why?

While we have known the answers to the first three questions, the last two have proved far, far harder to resolve and have haunted me ever since the dreadful news of the disaster filtered through on 17 July 2014.

Who murdered him, and why?

In my quest for the truth I have been to the Netherlands, home to most of the victims, for BBC North West's Inside Out programme.

The Dutch Safety Board (DSB), based in The Hague, is the team of air crash specialists which has been investigating this disaster.

They took months to recover the wreckage and have been criticised by some observers for being slow.

They claimed it was not safe for them to enter what was - in effect - a war zone. Parts of the country are still in the throes of a civil war.

Many Western governments believe a missile fired by Russian-backed rebels brought down the plane, an accusations the Kremlin vehemently denies.

The DSB's efforts dragged on from the heat of summer into the biting cold of last winter. Only then had it collected enough pieces to start the investigation properly.

The experts took the parts to two giant hangars at a Dutch air base before beginning the painstaking task of trying to partially reconstruct the Boeing 777, which had been flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

So what will the investigators tell us on Tuesday?

The big problem is that both the Russians and the Ukrainians have access to these missiles... and it is unlikely the investigators will point the finger of blame.

Why? Because they say it is not their job - they were tasked only with establishing what caused the crash.

And while it is a fine distinction, it will doubtlessly mean more delays and frustration for the grieving relatives.

I first met Silene Fredriksz at the end of last year, as she mourned the loss of her 23-year-old son Bryce and his 20-year-old girlfriend Daisy Oehlers.

Silene had left Bryce and Daisy's bedroom untouched since the day they left, never to return.

All that could be recovered of Bryce and Daisy was 19 bones. Silene and her partner Rob cremated them in a tiny heart-shaped box.

I returned to Rotterdam to meet her again, and find out whether her anger had subsided during the past few months.

It had not. She told me: "Still no-one takes responsibility for what has happened. You can just shoot a plane out of the sky and nothing happens, that makes me angry."

When asked whether the Dutch Safety Board's report would change anything, she replied: "I hope so but I don't think so.

"I want the killers to be punished. I want to look in their eyes and show them my pain and show them the beautiful young people they killed.

"I want them to know what they did. I don't know if they care."

An international criminal investigation has been running alongside the DSB's.

Officers say they cannot yet say whether the fragments they have found are from a BUK missile, or who may have fired it.

They have, though, released a video which allegedly traces the path of a BUK missile launcher as it enters eastern Ukraine from Russia.

It is seen travelling to a location near the crash site, and then heads back into Russia.

For its part, Moscow claims a Ukrainian fighter shot down MH17 - an allegation denied by Kiev.

Many of the images used by the criminal investigation have come from social media outlets.

Eliot Higgins runs a investigative journalism website called Bellingcat and he has been trying to verify relevant stills and videos.

Using data in the public domain, scrutinising and pinpointing where images were taken, he and a team in Leicester claim to show the path of the BUK missile launcher.

That information has been incorporated into the Dutch police investigation.

According to Mr Higgins: "We have been able to trace where the missile came from, which is the 53rd Air Defence Brigade outside Kursk in Russia.

"What we really don't know is the person who pressed the button but what we do have is names, ranks, how the unit is constructed and this is all information we are passing to police at the moment.

"The police will have much more access to information and I am hopeful we will be able to say specific people were involved in the downing of MH17."

Justice 'not swift'

The criminal inquiry is not due to report until the end of this year - 18 months after the disaster.

Russia has already blocked a United Nations resolution to create an international tribunal to prosecute those responsible.

Ultimately, the case could end up in The Hague at the International Criminal Court. Its mandate is to deal with alleged crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.

Last month Ukraine officially recognised the court's jurisdiction for the first time.

Now, the court has confirmed it is likely to be look at the downing of MH17. Whether any suspects could be extradited is another issue.

Even if my "who?" and "why?" questions are ever really answered, justice is not going to be swift for my uncle, or any of the other victims.

But, for all of them, I hope it will not be denied forever.

You can see more on BBC Inside Out North West on Monday 12 October at 19:30 BST.