“This can really – devastatingly – only mean one thing.”
That’s the message from Corrie McKeague’s mother Nicola Urquhart as police reveal the bin collection on the night the RAF airman disappeared weighed far more than first thought.
Detectives said the waste collection picked up from the horseshoe on September 24, 2016 has now been found to be far heavier at more than 100kg.
It was originally thought to have weighed just 11kg.
The news came to light as detectives said a 26-year-old arrested as part of the investigation would face no further action.
His arrest was sparked after fresh checks of information provided to police during the investigation were carried out, revealing the gap between the two weights.
Sharing the update with the Find Corrie group on social media, Mrs Urquhart said: “With the weight of the bin that was lifted the night Corrie went missing has been incorrect and the true weight is over 100kg. This can really devastatingly only mean one thing.
“I can only pray that Corrie is found quickly and that we are able to get answers as to how this could have happened.
“Please can I ask everyone on here to try really hard not to speculate just now. Each second waiting to find Corrie is torture enough.
“This page was set up to find Corrie. We still need to do this.”
A search of landfill is currently underway in Milton, Cambridgeshire, as part of the investigation into how Corrie, 23, disappeared after a night out in September last year.
The RAF Honington gunner was last seen in Brentgovel Street at 3.24am on Saturday, September 24, wearing a pink shirt and white trousers.
No-one has been able to trace him since.
Detective Superintendent Katie Elliott said: “Through the persistence of officers and their detailed work we recently identified that the data provided was incorrect.
“We now know the weight of the waste collection from the ‘horseshoe’ on the night Corrie went missing was over 100kg, when the original information we were given indicated that this was 11kg, and this makes our search of the landfill the next logical step to try to find Corrie.
“The investigation has identified that the company who provided the data usually charge per collection, not per weight of load collected, and it appears that it was genuinely believed by the company that the data provided was correct.
“There was no intention to mislead the investigation, however our discovery, through persisting with this through our enquiries and evidence gathering, now puts a new emphasis on the search.”
Any information relating to Corrie’s disappearance should be passed to the incident room on 01473 782019. Alternatively, call 101 and ask to speak to the team.
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