Father Of Brilliant British Student Blames Vladimir Putin For Missile Strike That Kills His Son

The distraught father of a brilliant maths student killed on Flight MH17 yesterday accused Vladimir Putin of his murder.

Simon Mayne’s son Richard, 20, was one of ten Britons on the Malaysia Airlines jet downed by a missile in eastern Ukraine.

Fighting back tears, Mr Mayne said he had little doubt the Russian president was responsible for the loss of 298 lives.

‘If Putin wanted to speak out he would do so, he would sort them [the rebels] out,’ said the 53-year-old teacher and company director.

‘Everyone knows that what is going on out there is Russian sponsored. This is a man who rides bare-chested on a horse because he thinks people will admire him, but he’s murdered my son, essentially.’

Describing Mr Putin as aggressive, he backed suggestions that the Russian leader’s agents had been arming the Ukrainian separatists: ‘Everybody knows that you don’t buy these missiles at a corner shop.’

Mr Mayne’s son was studying maths and finance at Leeds University.  As the international crisis intensified, Britain and the United States openly blamed Russia for the atrocity. Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the UN, said Moscow’s troops may even have helped rebels fire the BUK missile that downed the jet.