MH17 black box
Black boxes from MH17 have landed in Britain, as part of investigations into the tragedy Reuters

Black box recorders from doomed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 have landed in Britain, it has been confirmed.

The units from the plane contain valuable data that it is hoped will lift the lid on the air catastrophy, last weekend.

Experts at the Air Accidents Investigation Branch have the black boxes following a request from authorities in the Netherlands.

MH17 was blown from the sky by a surface-to-air missile launched in the disputed region of eastern Ukraine, which has witnessed heavy fighting between pro-Russia militia and Ukrainian military forces.

Both sides have blamed each other for the disaster, while families and politicians around the world call for the bodies of 298 victims to be sent home.

Ten Britons were among the dead.

As the black boxes landed in Britain, unconfirmed reports emerged of an alleged plot by rebels to send them to Moscow.

Sky News said spies in Whitehall intercepted communications between groups about the matter, as well as discussions about moving corpses at the crash scene and also pieces of wreckage in order to frustrate the ground investigation.