Missing Corrie’s mother retraces his last steps
● Mother of missing Corrie retraces her son’s final steps
Nicola Urquhart, the mother of missing Fife airman Corrie Mckeague, has retraced his last known steps on the anniversary of his disappearance. RAF gunner Corrie, 23, was last seen walking through Bury St Edmunds.
The mother of missing Fife airman Corrie Mckeague yesterday retraced his last known steps on the first anniversary of his disappearance.
RAF gunner Corrie, 23, was last seen walking through the streets of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, in the early hours of Saturday 24 September last year.
It was feared he had fallen asleep in a wheelie bin and police later spent £1.2 million on a fruitless search of a rubbish dump.
In the year since he vanished, his girlfriend April Oliver, 21, has given birth to the baby that Corrie was not aware she was carrying, their daughter Ellielouise.
Yesterday his mother, Nicola Urquhart, 47, and Corrie’s brother Makeyan, 25, were joined by around 50 people as they walked through the town.
They hoped the high-profile walk, which started at the Sobar pub where Corrie began his final evening, would jog someone’s memory and bring fresh evidence forward.
Ms Urquhart said: “I’m not here to talk through theories today, I want to talk to you about what Corrie did and to jog your memory.
“I’m a mum, I’m his mum, and believe me, if it were up to me I would go into every building and search every room myself.
“I want that more than you can imagine – you can’t imagine how badly I want to go in and find him. I don’t believe that the police have exhausted all possibilities and there are still so many, many lines that need to be completed.”
She added: “I don’t believe he’s alive now, I know that it’s not likely.”
When asked about baby Ellie-louise, she said: “I have now got a whole future to look forward to with Corrie, it’s emotional, but it’s good emotional.
“Right now, I feel pleased that so many people have turned up to show their support and ask questions.”
Makeyan added: “You have to try and stay optimistic – it can be a very deep, downward spiral otherwise.
“It’s hard to go and see your niece without her dad there. She’s a stunning beautiful baby, I just wish things had turned out differently.”
Corrie is originally from Dunfermline and moved to Suffolk to RAF Honington, where he worked as a gunner and team medic.
On the night he vanished he was thrown out of Flex nightclub at about 1am and became separated from his friends.
CCTV captured his movements as he stopped to buy takeaway food and fell asleep the street before he woke to continue his journey.
The final CCTV sighting came at 3:25am as he headed towards a refuse area behind a Greggs bakery.
Police later matched the movements of his Nokia Lumia mobile phone to the path of a bin lorry, which was found to be carrying the weight of a human body.
Officers then spent four months sifting through more than 4,800 tonnes of rubbish at a landfill site in Cambridge, without finding evidence.
His family is offering a £50,000 reward to anybody with fresh information that can help the family find Corrie.
On Friday night, police set up a cabin in the heart of Bury St Edmonds appealing for information. Police also revealed they have identified four men who had a “brief interaction ending on friendly terms” with Corrie shortly before he vanished.
“I don’t believe he’s alive now, I know that it’s not likely”
NICOLA URQUHART