Detectives find witnesses who may hold key to RAF man’s disappearance

THE search for missing RAF gunner Corrie McKeague has been boosted after detectives revealed they had traced witnesses who may hold vital clues to his disappearance.

The airman, from Dunfermline, Fife, vanished while on a night out with friends in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, last September. Police have identified a cyclist spotted around on CCTV around the time the 23year-old was last seen.

They also hope to trace an older man and a person seen walking through the market town’s Brentgovel Street at around 5.15am on September 24.

The news came as Suffolk Police said searches at a landfill site in Milton, Cambridgeshire, will be delayed until the area is made safe, with 8,000 tonnes of bulk material to be removed.

CCTV shows that a waste lorry made a collection in the area Mr McKeague, right, was last seen shortly after the final confirmed sighting of him.

The lorry’s route appeared to coincide with the movements of Mr McKeague’s phone, but police said the vehicle’s load weighed less than 33lb and forensic examinations found no trace of him.

Officers have identified a search area of more than 920 square metres, which they believe will take six to ten weeks to comb for evidence.

Mr McKeague’s mother Nicola Urquhart has said she believes his body may be found when the landfill is searched.

In a separate development, Suffolk Police said officers were reviewing information passed to them by a private detective hired by Mrs Urquhart,

Detective Superintendent Katie Elliott said: ‘This is a considerable task and we need to ensure everything is in place before officers begin the process of going through the waste in the landfill.

‘We have been liaising with Corrie’s family around the timescales involved and, while we can’t confirm a start date, this preliminary work will be completed as quickly as possible.

‘Our aim from the start was to find Corrie and we have been carefully going through all lines of inquiry in detail.’