Sadly, force’s best wasn’t good enough
Campaigners blamed police for “lacking basic resources” to handle calls from the public. A JustGiving site set up by local campaigner Cheryl Hickman said: “The police investigation team, through a combination of lack of resources, intransigence and incompetence, have failed to capture and process vital evidence and still lack the basic resources to efficiently process a tiny number of phone calls per week.” Suffolk police categorically denied this but failed to correct continued public statements by campaigners that the police were struggling. More than 5,000 well-wishers raised £53,000 – but so far no public accounts have been published, despite promises on the JustGiving site. The money was allegedly used to fund private investigators. But Suffolk police said the private probe created no new lines of enquiry. The private eyes provided a single disk of information relating to the FindCorrie Facebook page. Corrie’s dad Martin said: “I feel sorry for the well-wishers who donated their hard-earned money.” Campaigners’ posters gave five mobile phone numbers “answered by Corrie’s family and friends” instead of the official police hotline. Det Supt Elliott said: “Naturally we’d have wanted the information to come into the investigation team but it wasn’t within our remit to stipulate exactly how that should happen.” The Mirror has attempted to contact Ms Hickman for a comment. MYSTERY Last CCTV picture Corrie’s dad claimed his son knew he was about to become a father, and that this may have contributed to him having an “altered state of mind” after he became extremely intoxicated on the night he vanished. But numerous reports claimed Corrie did not know that girlfriend April Oliver, Corrie was leading a double life, trawling the internet in search of casual sex with strangers.
The 23-year-old gunner had an account on dating website Plenty of Fish. The serviceman described himself as “a princess” who was looking for a relationship.
He also had an account on the gay dating app Grindr, set up when he was aged 21, two years before he disappeared. The account carried the username “BiLad21”.
Corrie and his girlfriend April Oliver also joined an online swingers’ club.
The airman created a profile on the Fab Swingers website in 2014, saying he was looking for straight and lesbian couples as well as for single women aged 18 to 60. It stated: “We are a young couple, but we know what we want.” IT is always difficult to bring an unsolved investigation to a close but sometimes the evidence simply is not there and, in such cases, no amount of further investigation will find it.
Suffolk police have put huge effort into this case , with searches, witness appeals, CCTV reviews and much more.
A “most likely” scenario has been established that Corrie died after getting got into a recycling bin and was killed.
This possibility was identified relatively early, when there were lots of other scenarios, such as kidnap or accident, in which Corrie could still have been alive.
When the waste firm supplied GIRLFRIEND Police say Corrie knew April might be pregnant 22, could have been pregnant before he disappeared. However, police have now confirmed to the Mirror that April did tell him she thought she might be expecting. She gave birth in June the year after he vanished. Corrie was known to suffer from depression and his father believes it is possible he may have taken his own life if he was worried over his future responsibilities. Martin said: “A lot of people went to great lengths to suggest Corrie didn’t know he was about to become a father. I don’t know their reasoning for this but I’ve always felt it could have been significant. “Perhaps it contributed to him drinking excessively that night, or perhaps it led him to get in the bin, perhaps he knew what would happen if he got in that bin.” Suffolk police confirmed: “A number of witnesses have provided statements stating that Corrie was aware of April’s pregnancy.” Corrie’s family believe there could have been vital information in the social media accounts.
However, they were deleted before the police were able to contact all relevant parties who may have come into contact with the serviceman.
The Mirror can reveal “advice and assistance was offered to Corrie’s mother Nicola, above, around social media” from Suffolk police after it emerged she was responsible for deleting social media profiles.
Det Supt Elliott said: “I am not willing to discuss operational details.” data suggesting he could not have been in the recycling bin, it is no surprise to find the senior investigating officer focused on the alternatives.
The waste firm’s mistake over the weight of the bin was only discovered when investigators started going back over things.
Police were then confronted with the issue of where the contents of the bin ended up, which could have been multiple locations over huge areas.
As for criticism over Suffolk’s resources, I have seen nothing to substantiate the claim. There is a saying amongst detectives, “if you want to know how they died, find out how they lived”.
Officers would have wished to secure all the information from Corrie’s social media and it is unfortunate pages were deleted.
As for JustGiving funds and the use of private investigators, the police have no power to direct how they are used.
Any allegations that funds have been used fraudulently can be investigated separately.
I believe Suffolk police have done as well as any force could have done. Unfortunately this result is hugely difficult for Corrie’s family and friends.