RAF airman Corrie Mckeague 'slept under bin bags' - inquest

Corrie Mckeague went missing from Bury St Edmunds - about 10 miles south of his RAF base - on 24 September 2016

An airman who went missing six years ago had slept under bin bags on a previous night out, an inquest heard.

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

Police believe he died after climbing into a waste bin after a night out, but his body has never been found.

Mr Mckeague's best friend Paul Robb told the hearing in Ipswich the RAF Honington serviceman had used the bin bags "almost like a blanket".

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Paul Robb, who served with Mr Mckeague in the RAF, said the gunner had slept under bin bags following a night out in Lichfield, Staffordshire, in 2014.

He said Mr Mckeague had been out drinking when they were there on a medic course.

"He told me he slept under some bin bags," Mr Robb told the coroner's court.

"I can't remember if he described them being full of rubbish, outside a coffee shop or something like that.

"Round the back where the bin area was.

"He described using them almost like a blanket to stay warm."

Mr Mckeague was last seen on CCTV heading towards a bin loading area behind some shops in Bury St Edmunds town centre

He said on a previous night out Mr Mckeague "downed a whole bottle of red wine in 17 seconds", adding that he "had a capability of doing things like that".

In his witness statement, Mr Robb said Mr Mckeague was "extreme with his drinking" and described his mental state as "up and down".

Mr Mckeague's former line manager Sgt Ross Stevenson described him as a "friendly lad" who was a "good laugh".

In his witness statement he said Mr Mckeague was a "nightmare on the drink" and he had previously seen him walking back to the airbase in the morning still wearing his clothes from the night before.

Mr Mckeague had been asked to leave Flex nightclub a couple of hours before the last sighting of him on CCTV

Mr Mckeague was last seen on CCTV going into a bin loading area in Bury St Edmunds in the early hours of 24 September 2016.

William Hook, the doorman of Flex nightclub, told the inquest he had asked Mr Mckeague to leave the venue a couple of hours beforehand after seeing him struggle "to walk without holding on to anything".

He said Mr Mckeague cooperated and "there was no worry about him".

US Air Force mechanic Kentron Manning, who was based at RAF Mildenhall at the time, said in a statement he saw Mr Mckeague at a pizza takeaway in Bury St Edmunds in the early hours of 24 September.

Mr Manning said he offered to share his taxi home with Mr Mckeague, but "he said 'no' and he was going to walk back to his base".

The inquest, due to last four weeks, continues.

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