With every hour, I know we are getting closer to finding Corrie
Family’s anguish as dump search goes on
The anguished dad of missing RAF gunner Corrie McKeague has claimed police search teams are closing in on the spot where his son’s body is likely to be found.
Martin McKeague said off icers searching for the airman at a landfill site believe they are on the verge of f inding the area where rubbish collected from a bin thought to contain the 23-year-old was dumped.
Martin, 48, said: “The off icers searching the site are now finding things l ike items of mai l from specific dates around the time Corrie disappeared.
“They’ve also found mai l from addresses in the surrounding areas. They know that they’re searching in the right place.”
Martin and wife Trisha last week made their fifth visit to the site in Milton, Cambridgeshire, to give their support to off icers painstakingly combing through hundreds of tonnes of rubbish. Norfolk Police and their col leagues from Suffolk Police are working together on the investigation.
They are searching a large area of the site – around 920 square metres and up to a depth of eight metres – five weeks after it was revealed a bin collected from the refuse loading area where Corrie was last seen was unusually heavy. Staff at waste management company Biffa initially told police the bin had weighed just 11kg. But months later, they admitted it had actually weighed 116kg.
Martin, of Cupar, Fife, who is staying in a campervan close to the site, added: “When we visited the area on Wednesday, we were told the officers had already searched through 1530 tonnes of rubbish.
“It’s all done with such precision as it’s such a delicate job.
“My heart is in my mouth every time a new load of rubbish is lifted, wondering if this will be the load where Corrie will be found.”
Police say it could take up to 10 weeks for their officers to complete the search.
Martin said: “We know that it’s likely Corrie ended up in that bin but I still struggle to get my head around what could have happened.
“I know Corrie slept in some silly places, like in a doorway, which we know he did on the night he disappeared.
“But if you ask me if he would have climbed into a bin, then I don’t think he would have. Was he put into a bin? I just don’t know.”
Corrie disappeared after a night out with friends in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, last September.
CCTV footage captured him walking into a refuse loading bay known as The Horseshoe at 3.25 am on Saturday, September 24. But he was never seen again.
Corrie’s mum Nicola Urquhart, 48, of Dunfermline, has previously told how it is “incredibly difficult” waiting for news from the dump.
Suffolk Police said: “We remain committed to finding Corrie, as we have been throughout the investigation.
“Of f icers wi l l be carrying out searches of the site at Milton in Cambridgeshire over the weekend.
“The schedule and work ing arrangements on the site are being reviewed on a regular basis to ensure the search is being carried out effectively, while maintaining the health and safety of officers.”
The spokeswoman added that more than 1620 tonnes of waste had been searched through by last Thursday.
My heart is in my mouth every time rubbish is lifted