Thanks for following us as we covered the news that police have stopped searching a landfill site for the body of missing Suffolk airman Corrie Mckeague.

Scroll down to see all the updates from this afternoon's press conference and reaction from the gunner's family.

The disappearance of Corrie Mckeague has been leading news in the local press for months and today is no exception.

• The Bury Free Press, external covered today's press conference, writing that Suffolk Police had commissioned a review of its work to see if anything further could be done to trace Corrie.
• The East Anglian Daily Times, external says the search team put down their tools this afternoon after searching through more than 6,500 tonnes of waste at Milton landfill site.
• Meanwhile, the Cambridge News, external says police will now search for Corrie in incinerated waste that may have come from the area where the 23-year-old went missing.

Nicola Urquhart has just been speaking to BBC Look East.

She said disappointment "doesn't come close" at the decision by Suffolk Police to halt its search of the landfill site at Milton for her son - missing RAF serviceman Corrie Mckeague.

She said: "I'm so angry, I'm beyond devastated that they've [Suffolk Police] misled me, that my sons, our family, have all believed that this would come to a natural end, that either they'd find Corrie in the landfill or they can then tell us he's not there.

"It was only on Wednesday they told me they were going to do a press release and they would be saying 'we think he's still in there but we're not searching anywhere', and that's not what they've told the press today but that is what they've told me.

"I can live with Corrie never being found - any parent would just find a way of coping with that and dealing with that, but that's on the back of knowing that everything's been done to try and find them - people go missing and just don't get found so I would find a way of dealing with that.

"I do not want to be anybody that criticises the police ever, but what they've done is wrong."

Det Supt Katie Elliott earlier told press all evidence suggested Corrie was still at the landfill site, but "without anything further to tell us where he might be, on such a vast site, the search cannot continue".

The disappearance of Corrie Mckeague has been a social media phenomenon.

Each year, an estimated 250,000 people go missing.

But very few of them generate such long-lasting and widespread interest as the 23-year-old airman.

Image source, Suffolk Police

Almost 130,000 people have followed the Find Corrie Facebook page, external, with followers posting well-wishes for Nicola Urquhart, and sons Darroch and Makeyan, and their own theories as to what may have happened.

In December, Mrs Urquhart was photographed searching woodland for any trace of her son, at a point in the investigation when it was thought he might have tried to walk home.

The picture formed part of a Facebook post which read: "This mum is searching forest undergrowth for her child.

"Her baby boy. Though an adult, he's her baby still.... It could be one of us parents looking for our child instead."

It was shared 270,000 times and attracted almost 28,000 comments. Comments were still being posted in April.

It was not just on social media that the interest in Mr Mckeague's disappearance became apparent.

Artist Ruddy Muddy sketched an image of Mr Mckeague into dirt on the back of his van, baby blue-coloured wristbands displaying "Find Corrie" were distributed, car stickers were made and posters seen throughout East Anglia and beyond.

Both Mrs Urquhart and Forbes McKenzie, from the hired data experts, put his appeal down to the fact that he was an airman, and the British public are "good at getting behind the forces".

Plus, they said, he was a good-looking boy - a "capable, fit young man who should be able to look after himself", according to his mother.

Mr McKenzie also points to the "feeling of injustice that not enough was getting done" in order to try to find him.

Image source, Barry Minns

Corrie Mckeague went missing after a night out in Bury St Edmunds in September 2016.

As part of the search for Corrie Mckeague, his mobile phone was traced and it was discovered it had been in Bury St Edmunds in the early hours of Saturday, 24 September, but then moved to the Barton Mills area.

Police searched a bin lorry, after finding its route matched the movements of the phone, but released it after it was found not to contain Corrie's lost phone.

Image source, Paper Pix

After thousands of frames of CCTV footage were trawled through, with no evidence that Corrie had left the area, questions began to be asked about whether he had been in one of the bins taken to a landfill site.

Initially, the weight of the lorry's load was reported to have been 15kg (33lb) - too light to have contained Mr Mckeague, and so the landfill site wasn't searched.

But in early March, it was revealed the load weighed significantly more than that - more than 100kg (15st 10lb).

The search of the landfill site at Milton began on 6 March, after a month of preparation of the area for the search team.

Airman Corrie Mckeague was first reported missing when he failed to turn up for parade at RAF Honington on Monday, 26 September.

It was thought he may have attempted to walk back to the airbase 10 miles away after a night out in Bury St Edmunds.

A couple of days later, CCTV footage was released showing the gunner in the Brentgovel Street area of the town in the early hours of Saturday, 24 September.

A search was subsequently carried out on the road between the base and Bury St Edmunds.

But there was no trace of him leaving an area in Brentgovel Street known as the "horseshoe".

Andy King, chairman of Suffolk Lowland Search and Rescue, external, who'd been enlisted to help the police, said: "We always start looking in the place they were last seen, and in Corrie's case, that was the 'horseshoe'."

Mr King continued: "We did a very detailed search of a 200 metre [656ft] radius around the area, but it turned up absolutely nothing.

"That's not unusual, though, so then we continued to plan our search and come up with possibilities of what might have happened to him."

Police end landfill search for missing airman Corrie Mckeague, who they say had "slept in rubbish".

Corrie Mckeague's mother, Nicola Urquhart, said she had felt police would find him.

The mother of missing RAF airman Corrie Mckeague says she is devastated that the search is going to be called off without finding him.

Nicola Urquhart told the BBC that although she believes the search teams have put in a lot of effort, she "tried really hard" to put her trust in them.

"There's a lot that I agree with that's been said, like the amount of work that's been carried out," she said.

"I do believe that if Corrie was there, they were going to find him.

"To say I'm devastated that they're now saying they think he's still in there, but they're going to stop searching... I can't begin the explain how that makes me feel."

Martin Mckeague, writing on his Facebook page, external, has thanked people who have "stood up and supported" the efforts to search for Corrie "and who have stayed strong and not fallen for the erroneous suggestions of any criminal activity in the search for my son, or the cynicism, gossip, and speculation in the media that has unfortunately littered this process from day one".

"It has been difficult enough without all of that," he said.

Mr Mckeague (pictured during a previous interview) said the family in Scotland has never doubted the police's reasoning for, nor the timing of the search of the Milton landfill site.

"The police have prioritised their efforts based on facts, not speculation," he said.

"And anyone who suggests otherwise is, in our opinion, committing the ultimate act of disrespect – it's like a slap in the face to the people who have given so much of themselves in the search for Corrie."

In a press conference, Suffolk Police confirmed the search at Milton landfill for missing RAF airman will end.

"Without anything further to tell us where he might be, on such a vast site, the search cannot continue," said Det Supt Katie Elliott.

The father of Corrie Mckeague says the Mckeague family in Scotland is "devastated" by today's announcement that the search of the landfill site in Milton has come to an end.

Writing on his Facebook page, external, Martin Mckeague continues: "At no point did we think that the search of the site would end this way, and as all the evidence tells us that Corrie is somewhere in that landfill site, we are heartbroken at the thought that we may not be able to bring Corrie home together.

"But we are, as a family, somehow going to get through this together.

"We would like to express our deepest thanks to the volunteers from the Norfolk and Suffolk police for their heroic efforts over the past 20 weeks in searching the landfill site at Milton for my son.

"We know that these volunteers have done everything possible to try and find my son, and we will owe them a debt of gratitude for the rest of our lives."

Alex Dunlop
BBC Look East

Essentially we came to the press conference today to be told one of two things; either that the search was continuing for Corrie Mckeague, or that it was ending.

They have now called off that search as there is no trace of him - essentially the trail at Milton landfill has gone cold.

They've gone through 6,500 tonnes of rubbish over a 20-week period, extended from an initial 10 weeks.

Ten months after he disappeared, in an investigation that's cost £1.2m, they are no closer to knowing how he disappeared than at the end of September 2016.

I was at the landfill when they started the search and police said at the time they were confident of finding him.

Suffolk Police have said they are commissioning a review of the work that they have completed since the start of the investigation to see if anything can be done and that they remain open-minded.

Police are still confident that his remains are in the landfill, but they are saying this is not a criminal investigation.

Searching the landfill is effectively a new science for police because as they've been digging down they've found material has shifted. They say they have found material that's relevant to the time and the place Corrie disappeared, but then the trail has gone cold.

Initially there was consternation that they didn't search the site from the outset, but the police said they were told by the bin company that the bin weighed 11kg (1.7st) over. They then found out five months later it was 116kg, more than 15st - the weight of a human body.

At a question and answer session following the statement by Det Supt Katie Elliott, she said: "There were other bins in the area [of Brentgovel Street in Bury St Edmunds] and some of the bins in the 'horseshoe' area were incinerated and not taken to landfill.

"The waste that went through the incinerator is preserved in order that we can review that to see if there's anything that might give us any information about Corrie."

Image source, Suffolk Police

Ms Elliott said the decision to halt the search of the landfill site was "a big milestone", adding: "Every hope has been on finding Corrie at this landfill site and I can only imagine that it must be devastating not to be able to find him.

"I had every confidence that we were going to find Corrie in the landfill site."

Police say the search to find missing airman Corrie Mckeague has been "complex, systematic, comprehensive and thorough".

"All the information we have still points to the fact that Corrie was transported from the 'horseshoe' area in the lorry," said Det Supt Katie Elliott.

Suffolk Police said the search for Corrie Mckeague was expanded several times in response to new evidence.

Det Supt Katie Elliott, of Suffolk police, said the search for Corrie Mckeague was "unprecedented" and based on "compelling evidence".

Corrie Mckeague was last seen on a night out in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

Police say the initial CCTV work gave detectives searching for missing RAF serviceman Corrie Mckeague a good picture of who was in the area at the relevant times.

They obtained a number of witness statements which corroborated each other.

Image source, Suffolk Police

Speaking at the press conference, Det Supt Katie Elliott continued: "Police have been looking at what may have happened, including whether Corrie got into the bin himself or whether it may have been physically possible for someone to have lifted someone of Corrie's build into the bin, between the last confirmed sighting at 3.25am and the bin lorry collection around 4.18am, and whether there could have been an accident or any criminal activity.

"Officers have also looked at Corrie's previous behaviour and have spoken to friends and colleagues about his actions during and following a night out.

"Suffolk Police have commissioned a review of the work completed since the start of the investigation to see if anything further can be done to trace Corrie McKeague.

"We remain open-minded and should this review reveal further lines of enquiry that will help us find Corrie we will pursue them vigorously."