The desperate mother of missing airman Corrie McKeague has enlisted the help of volunteers as she launches her own search for her son.
Nicola Urquhart, from Dunfermline, has criticised police hunting for Corrie, who has not been seen since a night out eight miles from his Suffolk base in September.
Now an unofficial search involving search and rescue teams from four counties, along with drones and cadaver dogs, will get under way as his family refuses to give up hope.
Nicola, a family liaison officer with Police Scotland, will also be joined by husband David and sons Makeyan, 25, and Darroch, 21.
Suffolk Police will not be taking part.
The search will focus on remote areas in Mildenhall, Cavenham Heath and Kings Forest, close to where Corrie’s mobile phone last transmitted a signal.
Andy King, chairman of Suffolk Lowland Search and Rescue, said: “Nicola has a determination to find her son and we want to do everything we can to help her.
“It can’t be ruled out that he is deceased, so the search will include areas such as byways and country lanes where someone could have taken his body by car.”
Nicola, 48, has taken matters into her own hands after claiming the Suffolk force failed to carry out door-to-door inquiries in the street in Bury St Edmunds where Corrie was last seen on CCTV.
She also alleges they did not search empty buildings or look for his mobile phone.
Corrie, a gunner based at RAF Honington, disappeared after being separated from friends on a drunken night out.
Police are now looking into his sex life and his membership of various websites, including a swingers’ site and dating sites.
- For more on this story see Monday’s Courier, also available as a digital edition.
