Police are seeking an interim death certificate for missing RAF gunner Corrie McKeague, his father has revealed.
The Fife airman, who comes from Dunfermline, has not been seen since going on a night out in Bury St Edmunds on September 24 2016.
A lengthy investigation into Corrie’s disappearance has been ongoing ever since, including an extensive search of a landfill site which it is believed the 23-year-old may have ended up in amid suggestions he had fallen asleep in a bin.
Writing on social media, Corrie’s dad Martin – who last week said he felt his son was “no longer missing” and is convinced his body is somewhere in the Suffolk waste system – said the coroner’s views are being sought on declaring Corrie “missing presumed dead”.
“A coroner’s interim death certificate, and a decision on that, can only be issued once a coroner’s investigation has been opened. That has not happened yet,” he commented.
“As a family we are saddened that this process, just like the administrative process involved in transitioning this into a ‘cold case’ file with the Major Crime Review Team (MCRT), has taken much longer than expected.”
Mr McKeague also sought to clea up “false information” about a Biffa bin lorry driver who reportedly saw Corrie on the night of his disappearance.
He said: “The Biffa bin lorry driver said he had seen Corrie, but he hadn’t on the night he disappeared in the Horseshoe.
“We were surprised by reports in the media to the contrary.
“The family was again told yesterday by the Suffolk police that the Biffa bin lorry driver did not see Corrie that night.
“The Suffolk police confirmed that the person the bin lorry driver saw that night was eliminated from the investigation after they spoke with them and an account was obtained.”
His comments come after Corrie’s mother Nicola Urquhart made it clear that she, along with her other sons Makeyan and Darroch, had not given up hope of finding their loved one.
She said: “Corrie is missing, he has not been found, nor has their been any corroborated evidence shown to me yet to say what has happened to my son.”
