Valerie Stobbart, a 57-year-old Home Office immigration officer, was dismissed after asking The Telegraph for help finding her son, Nathan, who went missing in eastern Ukraine on 12 December 2025. Mrs Stobbart says official channels — including the Foreign Office, embassies and the Red Cross — produced no answers, so she contacted the newspaper. The Home Office said she breached its media policy by speaking to a journalist without notifying the Press Office; she was dismissed on 18 August 2026. There is still no confirmed news of Nathan's whereabouts.
Home Office Official Dismissed After Asking The Telegraph To Help Find Son Missing In Ukraine
Nathan Stobbart has not been heard of since December last year
A Home Office immigration officer, Valerie Stobbart, 57, was dismissed after contacting The Telegraph to seek help locating her son, Nathan, who has been missing in eastern Ukraine since December 2025.
Background
Mrs Stobbart says her son, Nathan, an electrician from Newcastle, moved to Russia in 2024 to marry his partner and had a child. In early 2025, she says he was threatened with deportation by Russian authorities unless he signed a one-year contract with the Russian armed forces. Without his mother's knowledge, Mr Stobbart signed up in April 2025 and is believed to have been deployed to the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
Mrs Stobbart is desperate to find out the whereabouts of her son, Nathan
Search Efforts
Mrs Stobbart learned he had gone missing on 12 December 2025 when she was told by her daughter-in-law. She immediately informed the Foreign Office, which assigned a liaison officer, and also sought help from the Russian and Ukrainian embassies and the International Committee of the Red Cross. She says she emailed Yvette Cooper, then foreign secretary, several times but received no reply.
After receiving limited assistance from official channels, Mrs Stobbart contacted The Telegraph in May 2026, hoping the newspaper's Ukraine reporting and contacts might help. The Telegraph searched Ukraine's 'I Want To Find' database and other channels but found no conclusive trace. Journalists identified his unit as the 33rd Guards Motor Rifle Regiment, active around Pokrovsk, but Ukrainian forces contacted were unable to confirm his whereabouts.
Valerie Stobbart was dismissed from her job at the Home Office because she had been speaking to The Telegraph
Disciplinary Action and Dismissal
In early August 2026, Mrs Stobbart told her Home Office line manager about her outreach to the media and was sent home from work the same day. She was subsequently suspended and then dismissed on 18 August 2026 after a disciplinary hearing found she had breached the department's media policy by speaking to a journalist without notifying the Press Office.
'I knew government policy forbade me from discussing my work with journalists, but I was not aware I couldn't speak to people to try to get help for my missing son,' Mrs Stobbart said. 'The reason I've had to leave has nothing to do with my work — it was to do with my personal circumstances.'
The disciplinary finding cited the Home Office media policy dated 6 September 2024, which states staff should not engage in dialogue with media contacts and must refer press enquiries to the Press Office, and that any conversation with a journalist should be noted and copied to that office.
Mr Stobbart moved to Russia in 2024 to marry his girlfriend, a woman with whom he had a child
Current Status
There remains no confirmed information on Nathan Stobbart's whereabouts. The Home Office was approached for comment.
Watch and Listen: The full interview with Mrs Stobbart is available on The Telegraph's YouTube channel, and the case is discussed in more depth on the podcast 'Ukraine: The Latest'.
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