'Fake Sheikh' Suspended As Tulisa Trial Collapses

An undercover reporter dubbed the "fake sheikh" has been "suspended pending an immediate internal investigation" following the collapse of the Tulisa Contostavlos drugs trial.

The former N-Dubz singer, 26, was accused of brokering a cocaine deal for Mazher Mahmood but the trial has been thrown out after the judge told the jury there were "strong grounds to believe" that Mr Mahmood had "lied".

Reading a statement outside Southwark Crown Court, Ms Contostavlos said the whole case had been a "horrific and disgusting entrapment" by Mr Mahmood and The Sun on Sunday newspaper.

"Mahmood has now been exposed by my lawyers openly lying to the judge and jury. These lies were told to stop crucial evidence going before the jury, " she said.

Ms Contostavlos claims Mr Mahmood's driver Alan Smith had been pressurised into changing his statement to strengthen Mr Mahmood's evidence.

Mr Smith originally suggested he had heard the star talking disapprovingly about drugs but "changed his mind" after a conversation with the undercover reporter, the court was told.

During a pre-trial hearing, Mr Mahmood was asked: "Did you subsequently ask or find out, discuss with Mr Smith anything that was said in the car?"

He replied: "No."

Michael Coombs, also known as Mike GLC, walks free

Asked if at any stage he discussed Ms Contostavlos saying she "disapproved" of drugs, he also said no.

But the judge said he gave answers which were "entirely inconsistent" when he gave evidence about the same topic at the trial last week.

It can now be reported that, before the trial began, defence counsel argued that the case should be "stayed" - meaning thrown out - but their application was turned down.

In her statement Ms Contostavlos denied ever having dealt or taken cocaine and said she was targeted by the reporter when things were going badly for her.

Ms Contostavlos has urged the police to launch an investigation and said "this type of entrapment should not be allowed to happen to anyone", adding that her life had been ruined for a year.

A Sun spokesman said: "We are very disappointed with this outcome, but do believe the original investigation was conducted within the bounds of the law and the industry's Code. This was demonstrated by the CPS decision to prosecute.

"The Sun, of course, takes the judge's remarks very seriously. Mr Mahmood has been suspended pending an immediate internal investigation."

Explaining his decision to halt the case to the jury, the Judge Alistair McCreath said: "Occasionally - very rarely - circumstances may arise in which a court has to say that, whatever apparent merits a prosecution may have, the court cannot allow the prosecution case to be taken forward to trial."

He said the situation arose from a "fundamental principle" that the court "cannot allow itself to be party to improper conduct".

The Metropolitan Police said it is aware of the judge's decision and will "continue to liaise with the CPS should further work be required".

Earlier Ms Contostavlos appeared ecstatic, punching the air as she left the dock before crying as she hugged supporters including her PA, Gareth Varey, shortly after the case against her was thrown out.

Mike GLC - whose real name is Michael Coombs - pleaded guilty before the start of the trial to supplying half an ounce (13.9g) of cocaine but he also walked free after judge said the case cannot proceed against him.

The 36-year-old also wept as he hugged defence barrister Jeremy Dein QC.

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MH17: Warplane 'Flew Near Doomed Airliner'

A Ukrainian military plane flew within three to five km of flight MH17 just before the crash, the Russian Defence Ministry has claimed.

Moscow also denied supplying pro-Russian rebels with BUK missile systems or any other weapons.

It said it detected the Ukrainian warplane on radar and noticed an increase in radar activity just before the Malaysian Airlines plane carrying 298 people was destroyed.

The claims came after Ukraine's Prime Minister said Vladimir Putin is "on the side of the devil" as he reiterated Kiev's view that Russia had a clear role in shooting down the airliner.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk said the Boeing 777 was probably brought down by a BUK-M1 missile launcher.

"This system could not be operated by drunk pro-Russian terrorists. There were professional people," he told a news conference.

He also said Kiev is willing to hand over the probe into the atrocity to its Western partners.

In the Netherlands, Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima are meeting relatives of the 193 Dutch people who died on the plane.

The pair have been criticised for not attending memorial services for the victims on Sunday. Their aides are refusing to say what they were doing instead.

Earlier, the Russian President vowed to "do everything to ensure the security and safety" of experts investigating the disaster.

Mr Putin said "all people" in Ukraine are responsible for the tragedy.

"No one has the right to use this tragedy for any kind of vested interest in the political sense. Such incidents should unite people rather than separate them," he said.

Mr Putin says experts investigating the disaster should be protected

"We need to do everything to ensure the security and safety of the observers and the experts working at the crash site."

However, Mr Yatsenyuk said: "I do not expect anything from the Russian government ... Putin should understand that it's enough already. This is not a conflict between Ukraine and Russia. It is an international conflict."

He added: "Russia is on the dark side, on the side of the devil."

US Secretary of State John Kerry said intelligence assessments had provided overwhelming evidence of Russian complicity in the downing of MH17.

Mr Kerry also demanded Russia take responsibility for the actions of pro-Moscow rebels in Eastern Ukraine, branding their mishandling of victims' bodies as "grotesque".

Ukrainian government investigators say 272 of the 298 bodies have now been found scattered over fields at Grabovo in the Donetsk region.

They said two trains carrying 251 bodies are stuck in the town of Torez because "terrorists are blocking its exit".

Mr Putin has promised Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte he will help retrieve bodies and black boxes from the crash site.

However, Mary Dejevsky, a Russian and EU analyst, told Sky News that Mr Putin controls rebels in the area "far less than is commonly believed outside Russia".

She said nobody controls the area which is "one of the reasons why things are so desperate there".

British Prime Minister David Cameron said tougher sanctions may soon be imposed on Russia.

Trains carrying bodies are being blocked by rebels, says Kiev

He said he had spoken to Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande and there is "strong co-operation" within the EU for action.

UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond is due to chair an emergency Cobra committee meeting on the crisis at 4.30pm today.

The UN Security Council will today vote on a resolution to condemn the downing of the aircraft.

The resolution, drafted by Australia, demands that those responsible for bringing the plane down will be held accountable, and that armed groups do not compromise the integrity of the crash site.

More follows...

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MH17: 'Bloody Guerrillas' Hold Train Of Bodies

Trains containing bodies from the MH17 crash site are being blocked by "terrorists", the Ukrainian government has said.

Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said: "We sent two trains, four carts, which right now are in Torez City.

"These bloody guerrillas do not allow the train to leave the area."

The trains are reportedly surrounded by 50 insurgents - but Dutch forensic teams say they have been promised the wagons will be released later on Monday so they can "do their work".

Pro-Russian rebels guards a train carrying crash victims' bodies

There are conflicting reports about whether the refrigeration systems on the trains are working.

As Russia and Ukraine continue to trade accusations over the cause of the Malaysia Airlines crash, rescuers have found 272 of the 298 victims - as well as 66 fragments of bodies - in the area where the plane came down in eastern Ukraine on Thursday.

There are fears some of the bodies were incinerated without a trace during the crash.

Michael Bociurkiw, a spokesman for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), said: "We're looking at the field where the engines have come down.

"This was the area which was exposed to the most intense heat. We do not see any bodies here. It appears that some have been vaporised."

The have also been accusations that bodies were removed by rebels.

Lyubov Kudryavets, a worker at the Torez morgue, said that on the evening the plane went down, a resident brought in the bloodied body of a child aged seven or eight. On Saturday militiamen came to take it away, she said.

"They began to question me: 'Where are the fragments of rocket? Where are the fragments from the plane?'" Ms Kudryavets said.

Investigators and rebels cover their faces while inspecting the wagons

The blocking of the trains comes despite comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin that "we need to do everything to ensure the security and safety of the observers and the experts working at the crash site".

Ukraine is set to hand control of the crash investigation to Western partners, with the Netherlands, which lost 192 citizens, taking a lead.

A Joint International Investigation Team has been established and includes experts from Malaysia, Britain, Germany and the US.

However, the OSCE is the only official body allowed access to the crash site so far.

Smoke rises from Donetsk railway station amid clashes

Elsewhere, Ukraine's military has tried to break into Donetsk - which was taken by rebels in April - in the first significant outbreak of violence since the crash.

Fighting broke out near the city's railway station and airport, with reports of shelling. 

Health officials reported four people dead.

Ukraine's military denied responsibility for any explosions in the country's second city.

"There is work on clearing approaches to the city, on destroying checkpoints of the terrorists. If there are explosions in the middle of the city, then it is not Ukrainian soldiers," said Andriy Lysenko.

"We have strict orders not to use air strikes and artillery in the city. If there is fighting in the city, we have information that there is a small self-organised group who are fighting with the terrorists." 

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Israeli Tank Shells 'Hit Hospital, Killing Four'

Four people have been killed and a further 60 injured after Israeli tank shells hit a hospital in central Gaza, according to Palestinian medics.

Thirty of those wounded in the attack were reportedly medical staff.

Health official Ashraf al Kidra said 12 shells hit the intensive care unit, surgery department and administration building at the al Aqsa hospital in the town of Deir el-Balah.

A Palestinian man holds a child while fleeing the Shaja'iya district

Footage on Hamas' al Aqsa TV station showed chaotic scenes at the facility.

Fayez Zidane, a doctor at the hospital, told the station: "There is still shelling at the hospital."

Earlier, the Israeli army claimed it killed more than 10 Hamas militants who entered Israel via cross-border tunnels.

Officials said 35,000 civilians fled the fighting on Sunday

Grainy video released by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) showed what appeared to be Hamas gunmen in a fire fight with Israeli forces before they were hit by an air-strike.

The film showed several armed men lying in the grass near what Israel claimed was the exit to the tunnel on the Israeli side.

After exchanging fire the men appear to retreat before they're hit by what Israel claimed was an airstrike. There was no way of verifying the video.

Israeli soldiers mourn during the funeral of colleague Bnaya Rubel in Holon

The attack came as the UN Security Council called for an "immediate ceasefire" and Israel continued its air assault on the Gaza Strip this morning, killing 28 members of a single family near the enclave's southern border with Egypt, according to medics.

One of the tunnels came out just one kilometre (half a mile) from the southern Israeli town of Sderot, the IDF said.

Military radio claimed the "second terrorist squad" tried to approach Niram kibbutz, close to Gaza's northeastern tip, where they engaged in gunfire with Israeli soldiers.

Rubel, 20, was killed in Gaza on Saturday during Operation Protective Edge

Several soldiers were hurt, the radio report said, without giving further details.

Hamas' armed wing the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades claimed it had carried out "an operation behind enemy lines in response to the massacre in Shejaiya [Shaja'iya]".

Meanwhile, several explosions could be heard and clouds of black smoke rose over Gaza City's Shaja'iya and Zeitoun neighbourhoods this morning.

Israel's continued aerial bombardment has resulted in an exodus of some 35,000 civilians, according to officials.

The wife and children of an Israeli soldier mourn during his funeral

People fleeing Israeli shelling in Shaja'iya at the weekend described it as a "massacre", with many women and children among the dead.

The Israeli army said it had given civilians two days warning to leave the area.

Meanwhile, Israel's UN ambassador Ron Prosor denied claims by Hamas that an Israeli soldier had been abducted.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon held talks with regional leaders and called on Israel to exercise "maximum restraint and do far more to protect civilians".

Pro-Israel supporters rallied at Times Square, New York at the weekend

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas described the situation in Gaza as "intolerable" and the Israeli attacks a "crime against humanity".

The Israeli government has claimed Hama is hiding behind the civilian population.

Spokesman Naftali Bennet said: "What Hamas is doing is effectively self genocide.

"They're, in a cowardly and cynical fashion, placing their women and children as shields, killing them, then coming to Sky News and other outlets and saying 'Israel is killing us'."

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Rebels Load MH17 Crash Bodies Onto Trains

Armed pro-Russian separatists have reportedly forced emergency workers to hand over all the bodies recovered from the Malaysia Airlines crash site.

International monitors and Ukrainian officials said victims' remains were taken away and loaded onto refrigerator wagons on trains at Torez station which were said to be headed for rebel-held Donetsk later.

Kiev's emergency officials said 196 bodies had been recovered so far, as separatists said the jet's two black box voice and data recorders had been found and taken to the eastern Ukrainian city where they would be handed over to the international aviation authority.

Monitors examine the bodies loaded onto a refrigerator wagon on a train

It comes as footage emerged showing evidence that one flight recorder had been recovered at the scene, two days ago.

In addition, Ukrainian security services released audio recordings of what they claimed were rebels talking about trying to hide the black boxes at Moscow's request.

World leaders have piled pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the armed Moscow-backed rebels from preventing investigators from fully accessing the MH17 crash site.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said Europe and the West must "fundamentally change our approach" unless Mr Putin altered his stance.

International monitors and journalists are confronted by armed separatists

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond accused Russia of "dragging its heels" on Sky's Murnaghan programme and said the country risked becoming a "pariah" state.

The prospect of further sanctions against Russia was raised as public anger and concerns grow over claims of looting and evidence being tampered with.

The US has condemned the lack of security at the scene as an "affront to all those who lost loved ones and to the dignity the victims deserve", while Malaysia has attacked the failure to preserve evidence as a "betrayal of the lives lost".

The Ukraine government has accused pro-Russian separatists of removing bodies from the crash scene and debris, and attempting to destroy evidence.

A message left among floral tributes outside the Dutch Embassy in Kiev

Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said the government was "angry" and "furious" over allegations bodies were being dragged around the site.

Sky presenter Colin Brazier, at the crash scene, said: "I've been walking around, coming across body parts all the time, many of them charred beyond recognition.

"Men, women and children indeterminate, frankly, you can't tell. Very often you are looking at charred spines, that's all that's left.

"There are flies. It is hot. There are stretchers lying by the roadside. They have not been used because many of the bodies were dismembered by the forces of the impact.

A still showing evidence that a flight recorder was found, two days ago

"It is a truly macabre, horrific situation. There is a degree of anarchy and lawlessness.

"You feel the need for an overarching body to get a grip and sort this dreadful situation out."

All 298 passengers including 10 Britons and 80 children were killed when flight MH17 was brought down near Grabovo, Donetsk, where Ukrainian forces have been battling separatists.

Kiev and Moscow have blamed each other for the air disaster.

Malaysia Airlines earlier announced it is retiring the flight number of the MH17 Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur route and replacing it with MH19.

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Newcastle Fans Fund Gets Thousands From Rivals

Malaysia Airlines Defends War Zone Flight Path

Updated: 4:48pm UK, Saturday 19 July 2014

A Malaysia Airlines official has defended the company's decision to fly over eastern Ukraine after flight MH17 was brought down.

Hugh Dunleavy, commercial director for the airline, said there had been no incidents involving civilian aircraft using the flight path and Malaysia Airlines had been using it "for quite some time".

However, at least three Ukrainian military aircraft were hit by missiles fired by pro-Russian separatists operating in the region in the week before MH17 was shot out of the sky, killing 298 people. Of the victims, 189 are Dutch.

Mr Dunleavy told Sky News: "Now there's been an incident like this, everyone is looking back saying 'you should have done something different'.

"But at the time we were flying, along with many other airlines on that flight path, there had been no incidents involving civilian aircraft.

"These are routes that are traditionally accepted on a day-by-day basis by the air traffic control authorities so they also consider them safe to fly.

"This was something totally extraordinary, it could just as easily have been the aircraft ahead of Malaysia Airlines or the aircraft behind that was hit."

Mr Dunleavy added the airline would now be using an alternative flight path around Ukraine and they have stopped calling the route MH17 out of respect for the victims. It will now be called MH19.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation, a UN agency and other aviation authorities recently issued a "notice to airmen" (NOTAM) putting the eastern edge of Ukrainian airspace off limits up to 32,000 feet because of the conflict.

But MH17 was flying at 33,000 feet when it was hit by a missile fired from what experts believe was a Buk launcher.

Ukraine has now closed all airspace in the east. 

Ismail Nasaruddin, president of the Malaysian Flight Attendant Union, said some crew members were too distraught to work following the tragedy.

He said: "We have lost 21 crew members in a very short time period. This is not something we like to see.

"We are affected, the crew members are demoralised by the essence of this tragic incident.

"What we are looking at now is probably an event that Malaysia crew members have never experienced before."

Daniel Holland, a military aviation expert, told Sky News airspace above war zones should be sealed off to commercial aircraft.

He said: "When a war zone occurs, everything from ground level up until realistically the level of space needs to be sealed off to any and all commercial traffic just to avoid something like this happening where a plane accidentally wanders over a battle ground.

"You've got that probability that an accidental misfire could occur and strike a civilian target without any real rhyme or reason, other than it being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

On Tuesday, Polish blogger Michael Dembinski suggested flying over eastern Ukraine was "worrying".

He wrote: "Take a look at eastern Ukraine and you'll see a procession of civilian aircraft flying along an air corridor between Luhansk, Donetsk, Horlivka, Kramatorsk - places where battles are raging and people are being killed.

"Yet blithely oblivious to what's happening on the ground, some of the world's largest civilian airliners are criss-crossing the area at 38,000ft."

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Dutch Mother: 'Mr Putin, Send My Children Home'

A mother left devastated by the MH17 plane crash has appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin "to send my children home".

Silene Fredriksz spoke as many left flowers at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport to remember the 193 Dutch citizens killed when the Malaysian jet was downed by a missile over Eastern Ukraine.

Anger is growing in the Netherlands that bodies have not yet been repatriated and their loved ones are apparently being denied dignity in death.

Ms Fredriksz held up a photo of her son Bryce, 23, and his 20-year-old girlfriend Daisy as she pleaded for the return of their bodies.

The Fredriksz family were left distraught by the tragedy in Ukraine

"Twenty-three and 20 years old!" she said. "They're lying there on the floor somewhere. I don't know where they are.

"I want to arrange their funeral. I can't. I don't know where they are. I want them back. I want my children back."

Clenching their picture, she added: "Look at those people. How beautiful. They have to come back.

"Mr Putin - send my children home. Send them home. Please!" 

Across the Netherlands, memorial services are being held as families and communities try to come to terms with the loss of loved ones.

Anger is growing over Russia's suspected involvement in the crash

More than half the 298 people killed on the plane were Dutch, with six members from the same family from Neerkant, a small village in Noord-Brabant province.

The initial Dutch response to the jet horror was one of muted sadness.

But with reports from the crash site suggesting pro-Russian separatists tampered with evidence and removed some of the bodies, the mood has turned to anger.

Rebels are being urged to allow unrestricted access to the crash site

Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans told Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko on Saturday that his country was "angry" and "furious" by reports of bodies being dragged around the site.

Many Dutch are pointing the finger of blame at Russia, either for its suspected support of the rebels or perhaps for firing the missile itself.

International pressure is growing on Russia for it to urge rebels in Ukraine to allow observers unrestricted access to the crash site.

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron and his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte spoke on Saturday and said the European Union will have to "reconsider its approach to Russia in light of evidence that pro-Russian separatists brought down the plane."

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Russia Faces Sanctions Over MH17 Crash

David Cameron, the German Chancellor and French President have agreed the EU should be ready to impose new sanctions on Russia.

EU foreign ministers will discuss the issue when they meet on Tuesday for the first time since Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was apparently shot down over eastern Ukraine.

All 298 people on board the Malaysian Airlines jet, including 10 Britons, were killed when it came down near the village of Grabovo, in eastern Ukraine last Thursday.

A Downing Street spokesman said the Prime Minister talked about the need to secure access to the crash site with Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande in a call on Sunday morning.

Pro-Russian rebels have been accused of interfering with the site

"They agreed President Putin has an important role to play by persuading the separatists to grant access and to work with the international community to ensure that all that needs to be done can be done as soon as possible.

"They also agreed that the EU must reconsider its approach to Russia and that foreign ministers should be ready to impose further sanctions on Russia when they meet on Tuesday."

The Prime Minister was expected to call Russian President Vladimir Putin later.

In a Sunday Times piece published this morning, Mr Cameron had called for a "moment of action" in response to the disaster.

"The growing weight of evidence points to a clear conclusion: that MH17 was blown out of the sky by a surface-to-air missile fired from a rebel-held area," he wrote.

Flowers left outside the Dutch embassy in Kiev

"If it is the case, then we must be clear what it means: this is a direct result of Russia destabilising a sovereign state, violating its territorial integrity, backing thuggish militias, and training and arming them."

Ukrainian government officials have accused Russia of supplying the rebels with sophisticated military equipment and have claimed the Buk missile launcher that is blamed for shooting down MH17 has been relocated across the border into Russia.

Mr Cameron had also criticised some European partners for not being willing to act against Moscow. 

"For too long, there has been a reluctance on the part of too many European countries to face up to the implications of what is happening in eastern Ukraine," he wrote.

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Weapon 'Moved To Russia After MH17 Shot'

A missile launcher allegedly used to shoot down flight MH17 has been moved over the border into Russia after video emerged purportedly showing it on the back of a truck, Ukrainian officials have claimed.

The video appears to show the Buk launcher with one of the four missiles it carries missing.

The film was allegedly shot by a police surveillance squad at dawn on Friday as the truck headed to the city of Krasnodon in the direction of the Russian border.

The footage, released on the Facebook page of the Ukrainian interior minister, cannot be independently verified.

Interior minister Arsen Avakov wrote on his page: "Criminals try to hide the traces of this heinous crime (but do) not succeed.

"Security Service and Interior Ministry of Ukraine has collected and collects more irrefutable facts and evidence."

In another Facebook post, Anton Gerashchenko, a senior advisor to Ukrainian government, wrote: "The Buk installation by means of which the rocket launch was produced was moved onto the territory of the Russian Federation, where it will be most likely destroyed."

The Buk missile system of the type blamed for the attack. File pic

The footage was released as Russia and Ukraine used social media to blamed each other for shooting down the flight from Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur as it passed over Grabovo, Donetsk, killing 298 people.

Russia has said Ukraine is responsible after failing to resolve the conflict in the east, while pro-Russian separatists have denied they have the capacity to bring down the aircraft.

An unnamed US official is also reported to have told Fox News that the missile launcher is believed to be back in Russia after being moved into Ukraine a few weeks ago.

The senior official  told the broadcaster the missile was fired from Schnidze, a town in eastern Ukraine.

US intelligence used infrared data, measurements and electronic signals, among other methods, to calculate the missile's launch site, the official added.

Ukraine's counter-intelligence chief Vitaly Nada has said he has "compelling evidence" that Russian citizens were operating the missile battery that shot down MH17.

At a press conference, Alexander Borodai, the self-proclaimed prime minister of the People's Republic of Donetsk, rejected claims pro-Russian separatists had shot down the airliner.

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Rebels Accused Of Taking Bodies From Wreckage

Pro-Russian separatists have been accused of removing 38 bodies from the Malaysia Airlines crash scene and attempting to destroy evidence at the site.

Ukraine emergency officials remove a body from the crash scene

The Ukraine government said "terrorists, with the help of Russia, are trying to destroy evidence of international crimes", adding it had obtained data which showed bodies had been taken to a morgue in Donetsk.

However, Sky's Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay, at the scene, said there were reports rebels had moved bodies on Friday, but body parts were now officially being removed by Ukraine emergency ministry staff.

Ukraine's Security Council said 18sq km of the 25sq km had been explored and 186 bodies found.

The fresh claims came amid discussions between the two factions over the creation of a "security zone" around the crash scene following allegations of looting and evidence being compromised.

Concerns have been raised by Malaysia about the investigation as a team of international observers complained of being confronted by aggressive armed rebels, blocking their access to the crash site for a second consecutive day.

Ramsay said: "I know in the past shots have been fired as warnings."

Security monitors speak to a separatist at the crash scene

Critically, the monitors have been unable to speak to anyone about the whereabouts of the jet's two black box voice and data recorders.

Ukraine said they had not been handed over to Kiev and it had no information about them.

Alexander Borodai, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, denied rebels had shot down the plane, or found the black boxes, or removed bodies. But he said body parts which had fallen into people's homes had been taken away.

Russia's foreign ministry urged rebels to grant monitors access to the site, while Malaysia's transport minister Liow Tiong Lai attacked the failure to preserve evidence as a "betrayal of the lives lost"

The debris was scattered over a wide area

Reports of looting of valuables such as credit cards and cash from victims' bodies and luggage were "gaining currency", said Sky's Michelle Clifford, in Donetsk.

"It may be part of a narrative to discredit the rebels," she said. "But, I have just spoken to a contact I trust and he said with his own eyes he saw the rebels taking money and valuables from luggage at the site."

Some 298 people including 10 Britons and 80 children were killed when flight MH17, flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was brought down near Grabovo, Donetsk, where Ukrainian forces have been battling separatists.

Hugh Dunleavy, Malaysia Airlines's commercial director, defended the aircraft's flight path and told Sky News up until now there had been no incident involving a civilian plane flying over the war zone.

A children's toy lies among the passengers' possessions

Reports suggested pro-Russian separatist commander Igor Strelkov had made bizarre claims bodies at the crash site had been there for days.

However, postings on his VK.com account, Russia's version of Facebook, showed he actually questioned this: "Version with a plane full of corpses, exciting, of course, but somehow can not (sic) see sense."

:: The Foreign Office has set up a helpline for anyone concerned.  Text MH17 to +447860010026, or call 020 7008 1500. Malaysia Airlines's emergency line is 00 6 037 884 1234.

British victims Richard Mayne, Ben Pocock, Glenn Thomas and Liam Sweeney

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