In mum’s arms ... missing airman’s baby girl
THe girlfriend of missing airman Corrie McKeague has announced the birth of his baby daughter.
April Oliver, 21, posted a picture of her cradling the newborn as she lay smiling in a hospital bed.
The infant, who has not yet been named, could be seen sleeping peacefully with her tiny hand outstretched from beneath a blanket.
Mr McKeague’s father last night wished Miss Oliver ‘all the best’ following the birth of his first grandchild.
Martin McKeague, 48, who is divorced from the airman’s mother, said the baby was born on Wednesday.
He added: ‘We wish mother and baby all the best. As I’ve said before, Corrie knew about April Oliver’s pregnancy before he disappeared. That’s a matter of police record.’
In a subsequent post on the Find Corrie Facebook page, the airman’s mother Nicola Urquhart said: ‘We have finally welcomed this beautiful little lady into the world. She is absolutely perfect. I am so very proud of April for getting her here safely.’
Miss Oliver posted two hearts and a unicorn emoji alongside the photo on her Facebook page yesterday – Father’s Day.
The new mother, from Downham Market, Norfolk, was admitted to hospital two weeks ago after doctors feared the stress of her boyfriend’s disappearance might harm the baby.
She revealed she was expecting his child two weeks after he vanished last September. Miss Oliver, who had been dating Mr McKeague for about five months before he went missing, previously shared a black and white image of her baby bump.
In an emotional message to her unborn child, she wrote: ‘You bring me so much pain yet just as much joy. Your daddy would be so proud of you, my little one, and would love you as much as I do.
‘Corrie will be part of both of us forever. No one can take that away.’
The Scots airman, 23, was last seen in the early hours of September 24 last year, after a night out in Bury St edmunds, Suffolk. Police specialists fear his body may be in a landfill site in Milton, Cambridgeshire, after CCTV footage showed him entering a refuse area behind a Greggs store.
Mr McKeague’s mobile phone was tracked following a similar route to that of a bin lorry, which was found to have carried weight akin to a human body.
Police have been examining the landfill for more than 14 weeks and have sifted through 4,000 tons of waste.
The search, which has cost £1million, could move to an incinerator site if his body is not found. Originally from Dunfermline, Fife, Mr McKeague moved to Suffolk to live at RAF Honington where he worked as a gunner and team medic in the air force.