Corrie Mckeague: Alternative theories in missing RAF airman case

Corrie Mckeague went missing after being asked to leave a nightclub in September 2016

Police have prepared a 30-page document of alternative theories relating to the disappearance of an RAF airman, a pre-inquest review hearing was told.

Corrie Mckeague, from Dunfermline, was 23 when he vanished in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, on 24 September 2016.

Police believe he died after climbing into a waste bin after a night out.

Peter Taheri, counsel to the inquest, told a hearing in Ipswich that Ch Supt Marina Ericson had prepared a "statement on alternative hypotheses".

The witness statement was put together to show what police had considered, and he was awaiting confirmation that it was "ready for onward disclosure" with those involved in the inquest, he added.

An earlier inquest hearing in November had heard from a police officer who said the serviceman was "very drunk" when he was asked to leave the Flex nightclub.

Mr Mckeague's last confirmed sighting was at 03:25 BST, when CCTV cameras recorded him walking into an area known as the horseshoe, behind Greggs and Superdrug, where industrial waste bins were stored.

Corrie Mckeague was last seen walking alone in Bury St Edmunds

A Biffa refuse lorry drove into the area less than an hour after the last sighting.

The lorry's load weighed 116kg, 70 to 80kg more than average, police said.

The airman's mobile phone mapped the same route as the bin lorry to Barton Mills, about 12 miles (19km) north-west of Bury.

As part of the inquiry, which cost more than £2m, police trawled a landfill site at Milton, near Cambridge.

A landfill site at Milton near Cambridge was extensively searched as part of the investigation

A review of the police search for Mr Mckeague, carried out in 2017 by police from the East Midlands, concluded officers managed "exemplary" work despite having "limited resources".

A full inquest has been listed for a four-week period from 7 March and will consider topics including the collection of the bin, the police search and results of the investigation.

It will also examine "any risk-taking behaviour" by Mr Mckeague, his recent mental state and consumption of alcohol, Mr Taheri said.

Nigel Parsley, senior coroner for Suffolk, said that the disciplinary records of bin lorry driver Martyn Thompson would be shared with counsel to consider whether they "show a propensity for diligence or not".

Last month, on the fifth anniversary of Mr Mckeague's disappearance, police said "new, realistic and credible" leads were needed for an investigation to be reopened.

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