The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Police draw blank in landfill hunt for missing Corrie McKeague.
No signs found in landfill as police expand operation and family tells of its pain
The search for Corrie McKeague appears to have suffered a blow after police drew a blank in the area of a landfill where they hoped to find his body.
The news was revealed by his mother, Nicola Urquhart, on the Find Corrie Facebook page.
Nicola said she has been left feeling helpless after the police search failed to find her son, despite 10 weeks of digging.
However, she explained that police will now turn their attention to the entrance to the landfill cell at Milton, Cambridgeshire, in the hope of finding clues that will lead them to Corrie.
Nicola accompanied the post with a picture of him in his RAF uniform. The 23-year-old RAF serviceman has not been seen since disappearing after a night out in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, in September last year.
Police have confirmed that more than £1 million has now been spent on the investigation into Corrie’s disappearance.
Officers are searching the landfill site after it was discovered one of the bins collected from the loading bay where Corrie was last seen was unusually heavy.
Writing yesterday, Nicola’s post read: “Suffolk police finished searching the landfill cell last week. This week they are searching the entrance to the cell and it’s believed this will be completed this week.
“Although small items such as phones have been found, we have been told that nothing that relates to Corrie has been found.
“There has been a small amount of Greggs’ rubbish but as it’s just branded paper bags and cardboard boxes apparently none of that can be time dated or its original location confirmed.
“So it’s not known which shop or where it came from. Rubbish has been found from the Bury St Edmunds area and from the month of September 2016.
“Like all of you, we helplessly sit and wait for this area in the search to be completed.
“Thank you all, from the bottom of our hearts for your unwavering support. Nicola, Makeyan and Darroch. With Corrie always in our hearts and minds.”
Facebook users were quick to offer their support.
Ann Fuller wrote: “Hope your beautiful boy is home soon.”
Lorna Bowman commented: “Always in my thoughts. Sending loads of love to you all.”
A spokeswoman for Suffolk Police said: “Police have now completed work on searching the cell that was originally identified and have expanded to peripheral areas which may still hold the answer to Corrie’s disappearance.
“As the search has been carried out officers have found material that have indicated they are in the right area – finding waste that was clearly identifiable as being from Bury St Edmunds and within the right time frame.
“However, towards the edges of the area it has also been noticed that the waste may have naturally shifted from the original deposition area.
“Police are expanding the search parameters to take this into account.”