Missing RAF man ‘did die after climbing into Greggs wheelie bin’
Corrie was killed when he was tipped into waste lorry, police tell inquest
MISSING Scots airman Corrie McKeague died on a night out after climbing into a Greggs wheelie bin which was then tipped i nto a waste l orry, an inquest has heard.
Police confirmed that the RAF Regiment Gunner was almost certainly dead, as an inquest opened with a tenminute hearing at Suffolk Coroner’s Court in Ipswich.
Mr McKeague, 23, disappeared in the early hours of September 24, 2016 while on a night out in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.
His body has never been found, despite a police inquiry costing more than £2.15million, which included two huge searches of a landfill site.
The family of the airman, from Dunfermline, Fife, have been battling for four years to find out what happened to him.
A ‘Find Corrie’ page run on Facebook by his mother Nicola Urquhart has 106,000 followers.
Yesterday’s hearing was attended by Mr McKeague’s father Martin and his second wife, Trisha.
Chief Superintendent Marina Ericson, county policing commander for Suffolk, gave a statement on behalf of Operation Phonetic, which she described as ‘the investigation into the disappearance and subsequent death of Corrie McKeague’.
She said: ‘Corrie had served in the RAF for three years, and at the time of his death was based in RAF Honington, Suffolk.
‘On the evening of Friday, September 23, 2016, Corrie drove his car into Bury St Edmunds where he subsequently met up with some of his RAF colleagues to go drinking and socialising.
‘Witnesses state Corrie consumed so much alcohol he became very drunk and was asked to leave Flex nightclub. Witnesses also described him as being happy and friendly throughout the night.
‘At 03.25 hours, Corrie entered a horseshoe- shaped area in Brentgovel Street behind Superdrug and Greggs the bakers. Located in the area are several industrial waste bins. 03.25 hours was the last time Corrie was seen and known to be alive.
‘A Biffa waste lorry, making its waste collections, drove into this area at 04.19 hours and emptied the Greggs waste bin. The bin weighed 116kg, approximately 70-80kg more than its average.
Corrie’s mobile phone, having connected to the internet, provided a signal, which from this point, mapped the movements of the waste lorry to the Barton Mills roundabout. At that point the mobile service provider lost the signal.’
She added: ‘At 15.42 hours on Monday, September 26, Corrie was reported missing by his colleagues at RAF Honington.’
The officer said there had been ‘no proof of life’ since the last sighting of Mr McKeague, and added: ‘It is believed that Corrie, having climbed into the Greggs waste bin located in the area of the “Horseshoe”, was in the bin when it was emptied into the Biffa waste lorry, and this is where he subsequently died.’
Suffolk senior coroner Nigel Parsley said: ‘I would like to pass my sincere condolences to Corrie’s parents Nicola and Martin and the rest of his family and friends who lost him in such tragic circumstances. On the basis of the evidence I have heard, I will open the inquest into Corrie’s tragic death.’
Mr Parsley adjourned the inquest to a hearing on February 5 next year.
Martin McKeague later said he believed his son had died after going into the bin lorry, and dismissed the numerous theories surrounding his disappearance.
He said: ‘I want to put the truth
‘There is no mystery’
out to the public. There is no mystery. The evidence we have been presented with by the police is what happened.’
He added that he and the police had wanted the f ull inquest to be held in 2018.
Police carried out two searches of a 120- acre landfill site at Milton, Cambridgeshire, over 27 weeks in 2017, but found no sign of Corrie’s body after sifting through 9,000 tons of rubbish.
Mr McKeague was last seen asleep in a shop doorway on the night he disappeared. CCTV l ater showed him walking towards the area containing the Greggs bin.
Police quickly realised that the movement of his mobile phone signal matched that of the bin lorry that had picked up the contents of the bin.
The signal stopped when the lorry was 14 miles away.
Mr McKeague’s girlfriend April Oliver, then 21, found out that she was pregnant with his child after he disappeared and later gave birth to his daughter Ellie-Louise.
Craig Knightley of law firm Tees Law, representing Mrs Urquhart, said: ‘Corrie’s mother wishes to ensure that all the right questions are asked and answered as fully as possible at the inquest scheduled to be undertaken early next year.’