'WE'RE GOING TO FIND HIM'
Corrie McKeague’s mum’s heartache as police say they are ‘confident’ missing RAF gunner’s body will be found at landfill site
COPS searching for missing RAF gunner Corrie McKeague have said they are "confident" his body will be found at a landfill site.
Earlier the missing airman's mum admitted it's "just a matter of time" before her son's body is unearthed at the Cambridgeshire site - more than five months after he disappeared.
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Nicola Urquhart says she is "just trying to keep it together" as she prepares for the worst after police revealed a blunder which could mean his body was dumped in a BIN.
Det Supt Katie Elliot from : "I am confident we will find him (in the landfill site)."
Specialist teams have already trawled through 60 tonnes of waste at the landfill site after it was revealed the weight of a bin lifted from the area Corrie went missing had been filed incorrectly.
Reflecting on the error Det Supt Katie Elliot said: "It's frustrating for me, I think it must be terribly frustrating for Corrie's family."
She added that finding out about the mistake was "very sobering".
Det Supt Elliot continued: "We've been working tirelessly on this investigation to try and find Corrie - that's been our priority the whole way through.
"To have that information really reinforced the decision that we'd already made that we needed to come and search this landfill site."
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It could take the team of eight trained search officers up to 10 weeks to sift through rubbish up to eight metres deep, covering around 920 square metres of the dump in Milton, near Cambridge.
Nicola, 48, told : "We know we are going to find Corrie in the landfill, it's just a matter of time now.
"All I can do is focus on finding him.
"Regardless of how Corrie has possibly ended up in this bin, and with a weight of over a 100kg there's just no way, realistically, that Corrie wasn't in that bin.
"I don't understand how the process has allowed him to get to the landfill.
"That was one thing that was trying to keep me believing that Corrie could still be alive.
"I was so sure, because of what the police said to us, that he couldn't go through that process.
"It doesn't appear that's the case now, so it is really difficult to accept."
Police yesterday admitted an error meant a lorry, which picked up bins near where the gunner was last seen in September, was 14st heavier than previously thought.
Det Supt Katie Elliott said: "I wouldn't describe it as an oversight.
"We check and recheck data we are provided. It's only when we've gone back and looked through thousands of lines of data we've found this."
She added: "Given the process it (the refuse at the landfill site) has been through we will look for Corrie and anything that helps us understand what has happened to him.
"There are a number of different possibilities. It's still very early days.
"It doesn't automatically become a murder enquiry if we find Corrie.
"My thoughts are with Martin and Nicola at this time. It has been a long investigation and they haven't had answers yet."
A team of specially trained search officers in white suits is currently scouring the landfill in Milton, near Cambridge.
The latest pictures showing the search reveal heavy duty vehicles have been used to move the large piles of waste and police are now going through what is left by hand.
Nicola, 48, said: "It could be the most innocent of errors that has not only dragged a family through this but I've brought thousands of people into this and that's a lot to handle.
"I have one thousand questions going through my head - not one of them will help me find Corrie.
"We need to find Corrie and then hopefully we might get some answers.
"All I can say right now is that I'm just trying to keep it together."
Regardless of how Corrie has possibly ended up in this bin, and with a weight of over a 100kg there's just no way, realistically, that Corrie wasn't in that bin.
Nicola Urquhart
In an emotive post to the 112,000 members of the 'Find Corrie' Facebook group Nicola said she believes the discovery "can really devastatingly only mean one thing".
She added: "I can only pray that Corrie is found quickly and that we are able to get answers as to how this could have happened."
This post has garnered received 4,000 responses in support of Corrie's family overnight.
One user said: "This is unreal. How the hell was this never mentioned before. My heart is broken for you Nicola."
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Another added: "It broke my heart reading this.
"No family should have to suffer what you have.
"I know this isn't the answer anyone wanted but hopefully, this will be the start of the family's healing process and an end to the anguish not knowing must have been for you."
The 23-year-old went missing on a night out in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk on September 24 last year.
Corrie was based at RAF Honington, Suffolk, and was last seen on CCTV at 3.25am that day.
Yesterday his dad was seen blinking back tears as he visited a Cambridgeshire landfill site police are now scouring following the chilling new information.
Corrie’s mum, Nicola Urquhart, wrote on Facebook: “This can really devastatingly mean only one thing”.
She added: "I can only pray that Corrie is found quickly and that we are able to get answers as to how this could have happened.
"Each second waiting is torture."
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She later posted a second message apologising for "not breaking this news in a gentler way".
She added to the Find Corrie group's 11,000 followers: "I'm so sorry I've had to share this news with not only my sons but with you all too."
Corrie's dad, Martin McKeague, and his wife Trisha were seen comforting each other at a landfill site in Milton as the search continued.
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Detectives confirmed a wheelie bin collected shortly after Corrie's last sighting in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, weighed 15st 10lb.
Officers had seized and searched the rubbish truck after the 23-year-old from Dunfermline went missing after a night out.
But no traces of the RAF gunner were found and the load of the wheelie bin was deemed too light to include a body after it was incorrectly measured at 1st 10lb.
Detective Superintendent Katie Elliott said: "Through the persistence of officers and their detailed work we recently identified that the data provided was incorrect.
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"We now know the weight of the waste collection from the ‘horseshoe’ on the night Corrie went missing was over 100kg, when the original information we were given indicated that this was 11kg, and this makes our search of the landfill the next logical step to try to find Corrie."
Police said the company which provides the data usually charge per collection, not per weight of load collected.
"It appears that it was genuinely believed by the company that the data provided was correct," Dt Spt Elliott added.
"There was no intention to mislead the investigation, however our discovery, through persisting with this through our enquiries and evidence gathering, now puts a new emphasis on the search."
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Suffolk Police said searching the landfill site was the "next logical step" after the vehicle's waste load was found to be far heavier than first thought.
Police today confirmed a man arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice over the disappearance of the RAF gunner will face no further action.
The 26-year-old, believed to be Haydn Stephens, was quizzed by detectives over information provided to the investigation after being arrested last week.
Officers have confirmed he is not the driver of a bin lorry which collected waste from the area where Corrie was last seen.
Dad-to-be Corrie was out with friends on September 24, but became separated while leaving Flex nightclub in Bury St Edmunds.
It is not known whether he tried to walk the ten miles back to his base at RAF Honington.
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Five months after Corrie vanished - cops confirmed the arrest last week and released previously unseen CCTV footage of two potential new witnesses.
Writing on Facebook immediately after the arrest was announced, his mum Nicola said: "Update. Police have arrested a 26-year-old male on suspicion of attempting to pervert the cause of justice as part of the continuing Corrie McKeague missing person investigation.
"The man was arrested early today Wednesday 1st March. He is in custody and will be interviewed. He is not the bin lorry driver.
"Please view the new images of the 2 people still to be identified."
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Corrie's phone was receiving social media data almost 90 minutes after he was last seen – first in Bury St Edmunds and then again in the Barton Mills area, 13 miles away.
The times and locations are consistent with the route taken by a private, single-manned Biffa dustcart which collected cardboard waste from the bin area Corrie was seen entering.
It arrived at 4am and left 20 minutes later after the driver filled out paperwork.
There have been various theories about what may have happened to the RAF serviceman.
Possible theories include that Corrie may have attempted to walk home and managed to dodge the cameras.
Another option is that he willingly got in a car with someone else close to the area, or that he was taken against his will.
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Police confirmed last month that they would be searching a landfill site in Milton in connection with Corrie's disappearance.
Preparatory work continues to shift 8,000 tonnes of bulk waste before cops can even begin scouring the site - with the official search likely to start in the next seven days.
Detective Superintendent Katie Elliott said: “We are continuing to make progress on the investigation and we will be starting the landfill site search as soon as the preparatory work is complete.
"We have been carrying out a lot of enquiries behind the scenes and our work continues to find the truth about what happened to Corrie.”
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Corrie is a senior Aircraftman and is the son of Nicola, from Dunfermline, and Martin McKeague from Cupar, and has two brothers; Darroch and Makeyan McKeague.
The serviceman met his girlfriend April Oliver, 21, five months before his disappearance.
In a heartbreaking twist to the tale, she discovered she was pregnant two weeks after he went missing without a trace.
Yesterday it was revealed Corrie's family have been hit with another tragic event as his mother’s father-in-law has died.
Corrie’s mother Nicola Urquhart – who is divorced from the RAF serviceman’s dad – posted on Facebook her husband’s father “unexpectedly passed away”.
The six-month investigation into Corrie's disappearance has cost more than £300,000 to date and the search of the landfill site could cost more than £500,000 if it runs to 10 weeks.
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