Corrie’s dad says his son is no longer ‘missing’, but irretrievable.

Father says family accepts airman’s remains are ‘irretrievable’

The father of RAF serviceman Corrie McKeague said he knows what happened to his son.

Martin McKeague said Corrie “is no longer missing” and claims he is “somewhere in the Suffolk waste disposal system” and his remains are “essentially irretrievable”.

Corrie, who was based at RAF Honington at Bury St Edmonds, was 23 when he was last seen walking through the Suffolk town in September 2016, after a night out with friends.

Police thought he had climbed into a bin and had been transported to a massive rubbish dump at Milton, near Cambridge, known as Cell 22.

Police carried out two extensive searches, lasting 27 weeks in total.

Mr McKeague said on Facebook: “Corrie is no longer missing. What we mean by this is that after looking at all of the facts and evidence we now know what happened to our son.

“We are certain he is somewhere in the Suffolk waste disposal system, but his remains are essentially irretrievable.”

He said that the evidence had been reviewed by independent experts in other police forces “who concluded beyond any doubt that Corrie had ended up in the Suffolk waste disposal system”.

Mr McKeague added: “But unlike other missing persons investigations where they do not know where their loved one is or what happened to them, we do know what happened to Corrie and we have to accept that it is impossible to search those areas for him now.

“And accepting that conclusion has clearly not been easy for the McKeague family in Scotland, nor anyone else.

“That’s why we feel Corrie is no longer missing, but rather his body is irretrievable because the remaining waste disposal environments are either too toxic to search, and the size of Cell 22 is so vast that it could take years to do so in order to find out exactly where he came to rest.”

Mr McKeague added that plans for a memorial for Corrie are in place.

Corrie McKeague was last seen in September 2016.