Missing Corrie: "Suffolk Police Have Let The Public Down"

The landfill search for missing airman Corrie McKeague should have started much earlier, says a retired detective superintendent.

Nick Biddiss, who during his career has carried out a number of investigations involving landfill searches, says that it was "fairly obvious" that the site should have been examined.

He told Forces News in an exclusive interview:

"When I was first given the information with regards to Corrie's disappearance in November, I said that that site will hold the answer to this investigation (...) Why has it taken this long?"

The former detective is very critical of Suffolk Police and says they have let not only the family down but also the public and the taxpayers.

Biddiss adds that only a full review will be able to reveal where the investigation went wrong.

Suffolk Police have replied to the criticism and said Biddiss "speaks with the benefit of hindsight":

"The landfill site search was always one possibility police were looking at, after it was thought Corrie’s phone may have been in the bin lorry. (...) It was thought extremely unlikely that he went with his phone due to the information officers had at that time about the weight of the pick-up."

Officers were originally told that the waste pick up from the area was just 11kg, and it was only through comprehensive checking that it was found to be more than 100kg.

They added that "the combination of the lack of CCTV sightings and witness information gradually ruled out many of the other possibilities" and the landfill site was found to be the most likely option.

In their response, they say that the estimated cost of the search will be around £500,000 if it lasts 10 weeks.

Steve Gaskin, former Metropolitan Police detective chief inspector, was also very critical of Suffolk Police:

"You don't even need to be a detective to understand that there has been mistakes here. Any reasonable person would have undertook an investigation of that site a lot earlier. All you need to see are the words bin, lorry, landfill site"

Gaskin has 23 years of experience in the Criminal Investigation Department and worked on cases such as the Hyde Park Bombings and attempted assassination of the Israeli Ambassador:

It's been six months since Corrie went missing after a night out in Bury St Edmunds, and the landfill search started on the 6th March.

The RAF serviceman's family had campaigned for the landfill to be examined after signals from his phone appeared to coincide with a route taken by a bin lorry in the early hours of September 24. 

It was only after recent revelations that the refuse vehicle was carrying a heavier load than first thought that searches started in the landfill site in Cambridgeshire.

At the time, his mother, Nicola Urquhart, told Forces News that the discovery changed "absolutely everything" and that it was “just a matter of time” before his body was found:

Corrie, who was with No2 Sqn, RAF Regiment, based at Honington, was going to meet some friends on Friday 23 September but had been left behind after a misunderstanding.

He drove himself into town to meet them and, after entering a few different bars, they went to the Flex nightclub.

At around 1.00 am he was escorted out of the club by the doorman after he reportedly agreed to “leave amicably”.

He then went to a takeaway place without his friends and was seen by a CCTV camera eating his food. 

He appeared unsteady, on the corner of Brentgovel Street and St Andrew’s Street, in the “horseshoe” area of the town.

The 23-year-old took a nap for around two hours in a doorway of an electrical store before another CCTV camera recorded him walking in Brentgovel Street at 3.25 am.

This was the last time Corrie would be seen alive:

RAF Honington reported their airman was missing at 11.30 am the following Monday, when he didn’t turn up for a parade.

On October 4 it was revealed that his mobile phone had been tracked moving 12 miles away to Barton Mills just hours after he was last seen.

It followed the route of the bin lorry which was later searched with no trace of Corrie. The landfill where it dropped its waste was not examined.

Suffolk Police continued their search, and it was later determined that Corrie could not have left the area on foot without being picked up by the town’s CCTV.

The investigation put great strain on Corrie's family, and in December his mum said she had “lost faith” in the police and their hunt.

Corrie’s grandparents offered a “five-figure” sum for information leading to his discovery and an anonymous business couple offered a £50,000 reward, which was then withdrawn last February as unclaimed.

The community also showed support, launching a successful crowdfunding campaign to hire a private investigator and arranging searches in the forest near Corrie's base.

Continuing with its investigation, Suffolk Police set up pods in Bury St Edmunds to allow members of the public to view CCTV of the night and contribute with any further details. 

The New Year came with the revelation that Corrie’s girlfriend April Oliver, 21, was pregnant with his child, something she found out just weeks after his disappearance.

The search appeared to have come closer to an answer when police arrested a 26-year-old man on suspicion of perverting the course of justice on March 1.

However, the man, who worked for the refuse firm connected to the bin lorries, was then released a week later after police discovered that the incorrect weight of the lorry’s load was a mistake.

The moving phone signal, travelling at a speed that suggested it was in a vehicle, appeared to be the only solid evidence the police had in their search, and the landfill site started to be searched. 

At the time of the discovery, Suffolk Police Detective Superintendent Katie Elliott said:

"We did check and re check, it’s about the way that data was interpreted to us. There was no deliberate attempt to mislead us (...) Result of going back to experts in the agency that can interrogate the raw data… Accurate reading, diligence of the detectives that have established that information, we now have the information that has enabled us to mount this operation"

Corrie is one of the 120,000 people that go missing in the UK every year.

Latest numbers by the UK Missing Persons Bureau show reports have increased by 17% in the financial year 2015/16.

Suffolk police's full statement in response to this report is below:

"The former officer is not aware of the full circumstances of the case and he clearly speaks with the benefit of hindsight, not with the knowledge of the investigation team who have worked tirelessly to find Corrie since the start of this enquiry.

The landfill site search was always one possibility police were looking at, after it was thought Corrie’s phone may have been in the bin lorry, however it was only one of the possibilities. It was thought extremely unlikely that he went with his phone due to the information officers had at that time about the weight of the pick-up. Officers were told that the waste pick up from the area was just 11kg, and it was only through comprehensive checking and re-checking by police that this was recently found to be incorrect.

The bin lorry had also been forensically examined and this did not reveal any traces of Corrie.

Initial witness accounts indicated that Corrie may have tried to walk back to Honington. There was also speculation that something else may have happened to him – that he may have been taken against his will, for example - and officers could not afford to rule out any of these options.

Painstaking work followed alongside searches, comprehensive CCTV examination and background enquiries to see what may have happened. The combination of the lack of CCTV sightings and witness information gradually ruled out many of the other possibilities but it was only by carrying out these enquiries – and the work to check the data provided - that this was found to be the most likely option.

We knew the cost of any search would run into hundreds of thousands of pounds - it is estimated the cost of the search will be around £500,000 if it lasts ten weeks - but this was always going to be the case. The difference now is that we believe we’re looking for more than just Corrie’s mobile phone, which we already had acquired data from through other means.

It is worth noting that this investigation has called upon major crime and specialist expertise from across the UK.

It is always disappointing when a former investigating officer fails to realise the complexities of a case. He better than anyone should know that police have to work with facts, not rumours and speculation, particularly when we have an active investigation into the full circumstances of Corrie’s disappearance."