Missing RAF airman Corrie Mckeague alive, mum believes

Nicola Urquhart is appealing for people with information to contact police

The mother of an RAF airman who went missing more than three weeks ago has said she "absolutely" believes her son is still alive.

Corrie Mckeague, 23, a gunner based at RAF Honington in Suffolk, vanished after a night out in Bury St Edmunds early in the morning of 24 September.

His mother Nicola Urquhart told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme: "Nobody can just disappear."

She said it would be in character for Mr Mckeague to enter a stranger's car.

Mobile phone data

Mr Mckeague, originally from Dunfermline in Fife, was last spotted on CCTV walking alone and eating takeaway food in Bury St Edmunds at 03:20 BST.

A trace on his mobile phone showed it was in Bury St Edmunds early on 24 September but then moved to the Barton Mills area.

For more updates on this story, visit BBC Suffolk Live

Ms Urquhart said the phone data suggests this journey took 28 minutes, which is "how long it would take to drive [between the two places]".

It is not known whether the phone was in Mr Mckeague's possession at the time of the journey, but Ms Urquhart said that entering a stranger's car was "genuinely something Corrie would do".

She said he was the type of person that, "if he saw someone walking down the road and he was in a car, he would stop and give that complete stranger a lift".

Corrie Mckeague was last spotted on CCTV walking alone and eating takeaway food in Bury St Edmunds at 03:20 BST.

Police have found neither Mr Mckeague nor his phone.

But Ms Urquhart said there were "many possibilities" as to why the phone's signal was no longer being picked up - that it could have run out of battery or been damaged.

She said that police - who are continuing to search for the missing airman - "have got so much CCTV they've still not been able to watch it all".

She added: "They've widened the parameter to look further out. They've got [access to] private CCTV. But not a single [new] image of Corrie [has been discovered]."

Ms Urquhart said she believes "somebody does know something" about the events surrounding her son's disappearance, but added that the public have been "desperate to help".

"But nothing, not one person [has been able to] give us anything - and that just doesn't make sense," she added.

If you have any information which might be relevant, please call the Suffolk Police incident room on 01473 782019.

The Victoria Derbyshire programme is broadcast on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News Channel.