The mother of missing Fife serviceman Corrie McKeague has said she does not think extremists had anything to do with his disappearance.
Nicola Urquhart is clinging to her hope that the 23-year-old will be found alive as police investigating the case insisted that there is no evidence to suggest foul play is involved.
Today marks exactly two weeks since Corrie, who is from Dunfermline but was stationed at RAF Honington, disappeared following a night out with friends in Bury St Edmunds, and a massive search operation has been conducted.
Security at the base has been heightened amid fears he might have been abducted, but police said yesterday that they believe Corrie’s RAF status is “not relevant” to the inquiry.
And speaking to The Courier, Nicola stressed: “We do not believe that this has got anything to do with terrorism. Terrorists who take someone do not keep it secret.
“I know people might be thinking: ‘It’s been two weeks and it might not be good news’.
“But if something fabulously fantastic could happen to anybody and he’ll be found after three weeks, it will be Corrie.
“If you can think it, Corrie will have done it.
“He’s been hit by a car and he’s fallen out of windows, and there’s never been a scratch on him. He always bounces back every single time.”
Work is continuing to find Corrie who was last seen on CCTV in Brentgovel Street in Bury St Edmunds around 3.20am on Saturday September 24
Officers investigating the case are working to build a picture of Corrie’s movements during his Friday evening out, and are continuing to ask anyone who may have spoken to him or seen him on Friday September or on Saturday September 24 to come forward.
CCTV footage has been gathered and is being viewed to try and trace where he may have gone following the last confirmed sighting and during the course of this officers have noted a number of people in the relevant area between 3am and 6am who still need to be traced.
Police are particularly keen to trace three teenagers – two boys and a girl – seen at Short Brackland around 4.20am on the Saturday, and Nicola made a direct appeal to them yesterday.
“If they are not coming forward because of some silly reason that they think in their lives is something important, they should think again. They really, really might be able to help the investigation and might just be able to discount a few things,” she added.
Nicola went on to say that there is “not one image” of Corrie leaving the town on foot, which has led to a theory that he may have got into a vehicle.
One suggestion is that Corrie might have gotten into difficulty trying to walk the nine miles-plus back to his base, although that looks a remote possibility.
“When he was at home, he would walk home from time to time but it really doesn’t look like Corrie has tried to walk back to the base,” Nicola commented.
“He’s a really fit bloke and could easily walk nine miles.
“Clearly that doesn’t appear to be what’s happened this time, so then it’s a case of ‘what if’?
“The ‘what ifs’ with most people might not be that great.
“With Corrie, ‘what if’ could be absolutely anything could have happened, there’s probably nothing that you couldn’t imagine.
“Somebody can’t just disappear. Somebody knows something.
“The police say they don’t think there is third party involvement, although that is not to say he might have got into a vehicle. It certainly wasn’t his own – his own was still parked up the road.”
“If somebody has hurt him, if something’s happened accidentally, are they just going to keep on putting us through this turmoil?
Nicola and Corrie’s brother Darroch both thanked people for their support on both sides of the border, with hundreds of friends posting messages on social media to help raise awareness.
“Corrie has so many friends up in Scotland – it’s where he was born, where he was brought up and grew up, he lived in Cupar and Dunfermline – so the friend network he has is huge,” Nicola continued.
Darroch, 21, added: “The support we’ve been given from everyone has been unreal.
“He’s a top boy.
“Everyone can say that a person is unique but he’s great. He’s my brother and he’s my best friend.
“He’s the type of boy who makes friends with anyone and not one person I know has disliked him.
“This is so out of character and all we can do is ask people to keep sharing and get his face out there. He would have been on camera, he would have been seen by people.
“We’ve said to people today to check their photos if they were out on the Friday night into Saturday morning – he might be in the background. He might be recorded on a dash cam of a bike, people getting into taxis might have seen him…
“All of these things can help police.”
Superintendent Kim Warner, from Suffolk Police, said there has been a “significant” amount of officer time and effort invested into the missing person inquiry and said that will continue.
“There’s absolutely nothing at the moment to suggest any third party involvement, nothing to suggest any criminality,” Supt Warner added.
“We’re not ruling anything out, but at the moment there’s nothing to suggest that is the case – it’s a missing person inquiry.”
And on the RAF connection, Supt Warner concluded: “We’re treating that as not relevant within this particular inquiry.
“We’re treating his missing person status the same way we would treat any other missing person status – of a high risk.”
