Suffolk police has issued a statement after the mother of missing airman Corrie McKeague claimed on social media that her son could have left the area he was last seen in Bury St Edmunds on foot.
In a 3,000-word statement in the Find Corrie Facebook group, Nicola Urquhart said Corrie could have left the ‘horseshoe’ area in a vehicle after 7am and could have walked out in any direction after midday.
She said this is due to CCTV only being collected in the immediate area up to midday on September 24, 2016.
Mrs Urquhart also questioned the accuracy of the weight in the Biffa bin lorry.
Suffolk police said it continues to stand by what has been previously stated and unless “realistic and credible information” becomes available then the investigation is complete.
The force also highlighted an independent review, which concluded a “thorough, methodical and detailed investigation” had been carried out in the search for the airman.
A spokesman for Suffolk Constabulary said: “While we have always remained open-minded, we continue to stand by what we have previously stated.
“The most likely scenario is that Corrie McKeague unfortunately went into the bin, which was emptied into the Biffa lorry and consequently ended up in the waste process.
“We have come to this conclusion based on all of the evidence we have available to us, and not just the weight of the bin.
“There is nothing to suggest the 116 kilos the bin weighed on the night Corrie was last seen is inaccurate.”
Suffolk police also outlined the factors that has led the force to what it believes to be the most likely scenario:
The statement gave these reasons as:
“• Despite a huge amount of CCTV in Bury St Edmunds being viewed by our own officers and an external company, Corrie has not been seen on the images.
• Corrie’s mobile phone tracked the exact movement of the bin lorry which was heading towards the Mildenhall area.
• There has been a huge amount of publicity nationally and locally, but there have been no confirmed sightings of Corrie after 3.24am on September 24, 2016.
• Detailed searches of the most likely areas in and around Bury St Edmunds have been made, but no sign of Corrie has been found.
• Exhaustive enquiries have been made in and around the last place Corrie was seen and we are satisfied he did not walk out of the horseshoe area, or get a lift from there, before 7am on September 24, 2016.
• There has been no evidence to suggest any criminality in relation to Corrie’s disappearance.
• As we have continually said the waste process is not an exact science. Therefore, while Corrie was not found in the area searched, this does not mean that he could not be elsewhere within the waste process.
• We have eliminated from the inquiry all the people who were in the Horseshoe between 3am and 6am on September 24, 2016. There is nothing to suggest any of them were involved in Corrie’s disappearance.
• There has been no communication from Corrie with family or friends since that night.”
It added: “Our investigation has been reviewed by an outside force and the review agreed that Suffolk Constabulary’s preferred hypothesis of what happened to Corrie was the most likely one given the evidence available.
“Suffolk Constabulary has previously stated that unless new, realistic and credible information becomes available then the investigation is complete. There is no information available at this time that changes the status of the investigation.”
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