I can only keep fighting for the answers I need, says missing airman’s mother

The mother of missing airman Corrie McKeague has said she has “not given up'' on the search for her son.

Nicola Urquhart said she would keep fighting for answers despite Mr McKeague's father, Martin McKeague, saying he was “certain'' his son is in the waste disposal system and his remains are “essentially irretrievable''.

Mr McKeague has said his son is “no longer missing''.

Ms Urquhart wrote in a Facebook post: “If any person feels they have the answers they need to move on, I completely respect that.

“I can only keep fighting for the answers I need - to do what helps me, my sons and our family through this.

“This is not a criticism of how any other person deals with their guilt or grief.''

She said a coroner has refused to issue a death certificate, saying Mr McKeague is missing presumed dead, and that she agrees with this position.

“We have not given up,'' she wrote. “Corrie is missing, he has not been found, nor has there been any corroborated evidence shown to me yet to say what has happened to my son.''

She continued: “Although to the very depths of my soul, I know and feel Corrie is not AWOL.

“I cannot state this is a fact, as there is no proof it is not the case - just a lack of any proof it is.''

She said she accepts that when a person goes missing “they may never be found''.

Mr McKeague was 23 when he vanished on a night out in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, on September 24 2016.

Police believe he climbed into a waste bin and was taken away by a refuse lorry.

He had been stationed at RAF Honington, about 10 miles from Bury St Edmunds.

No trace of him has been found, and the investigation was handed over to a cold case squad in March