Corrie fundraising drive smashes through target

Mystery: Online appeal takes only two days to achieve more than £20,000

An online fundraising bid to pay for a private detective to help find missing airman Corrie McKeague has smashed through its £20,000 target.

A Just Giving page, set up by McKeague family friend Cheryl Hickman on Tuesday night had already raised more than £21,200 by yesterday.

Corrie, 23, has not been seen since he vanished on a night out with friends in Bury St Edmonds almost three months ago.

It is thought the serviceman, who is originally from Dunfermline, was trying to make his way back to his base at RAF Honington.

His family has criticised Suffolk Police as “incompetent” and the money raised online will fund the appointment of a private detective and a data analyst.

Some money will be used to cover the cost of Corrie’s mum Nicola and brothers, Darroch and Makeyan, maintaining a presence in Bury St Edmonds.

Ms Hickman said the cash would fund work relatives claim police are not capable of resourcing.

She said: “The police investigation team, through a combination of lack of resources, intransigence and incompetence have failed to capture and process vital evidence and still lack the basic resources to efficiently process a tiny number of phone calls per week.”

Earlier this week, Corrie’s grandparents revealed they were offering a five figure reward for any information leading to his return.

They called on the public to help end “10 weeks of torture and torment”.

Suffolk Police temporary assistant chief constable Louisa Pepper said she was confident in her team of officers and that the force was using an inordinate amount of resources in the search.

Corrie was last spotted on CCTV walking into a loading bay area of the town at 3.25am on September 24.

Picture: PA. Police yesterday released these new CCTV images. They believe the people in these images could hold vital clues which could help in the search for Corrie McKeague.

Corrie has now been missing for more than 11 weeks.