Heartbreak for mum of missing RAF gunner Corrie McKeague who admits it is ‘incredibly hard’ to enjoy becoming a grandmother while whereabouts of son is unknown
THE HEARTBROKEN mum of missing RAF gunner Corrie McKeague has revealed that she is finding it "incredibly hard" to look forward to becoming a grandmother while her son's whereabouts are unknown.
Mr McKeague's girlfriend April Oliver revealed today that she is pregnant - finding out herself just two weeks after the serviceman disappeared in September.
"I was hoping and praying that he'd come back so we could make the decision together."
She said that Mr McKeague, who she met on a dating site, had not known she was pregnant before he vanished.
"I have the support of my family and friends around me which is great but it's still not the most pleasant thing to go through on your own especially when the person you love is missing," she said.
"I've given it a great deal of thought. Obviously there is the element of 'what if he didn't come back?' what would I do and that was something I had to take a sensible approach to.
"When I found out, although it was a horrible time and something I wished I could experience with him, it was also something I was excited about.
"Given the stress that I've been under, the pregnancy has gone really well. I'm just doing anything I can not to add to the pressure I'm already under."
She said that she immediately realised that Corrie' disappearance was out of character.
April added: "I had only been there (in America for) a few days when I got the call from the RAF boys asking if I'd seen him or heard from him, that's when I knew that he was missing. I very quickly got a plane home.
"At that point I wasn't entirely sure what had happened to him. It was completely out of character.
"I found out I was pregnant a couple of weeks after I came back."
When I found out, although it was a horrible time and something I wished I could experience with him, it was also something I was excited about
April Oliver
A message was shared on the Find Corrie Facebook page this afternoon, saying: "It is with a mixture of emotions that we and Nicola Urquhart are now able to share this news.
"April has asked for her privacy to be respected as she does not wish any further media attention.
"We are supporting her in every way possible but respectfully ask that no comments are put on the page.
"Thank you so much for your support."
Miss Oliver, who is due in late spring, said: "There is nothing I would love more than for him to walk through the door and say 'I'm back'."
She said it had been a difficult decision to make her pregnancy public but that she wanted to focus on her baby without any intrusion.
The man's family has since hired "an elite team of specialists" to find the young serviceman as his disappearance stretches into months.
Police have found no trace of the 23-year-old since he was last spotted on CCTV in the early hours of September 24 after a night out in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.
He was reported missing after he failed to turn up at his base in RAF Honington, and it was feared he could have tried to walk the ten miles back.
Since his disappearance, Suffolk Police has carried out "extensive" investigative work to find him, searching woodland, scouring hundreds of hours of CCTV and tracing dozens of people who may held clues.
In November police admitted they have "no leads" despite trawling through 1,100 hours of CCTV footage.
The family has vowed to never give up on their search.
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