The search for missing airman Corrie McKeague at a rubbish tip is set to end as his father vowed to never give up hope his son could still be found.
Suffolk Police is set to stop the search at Milton landfill site in Cambridgeshire next week after officers have 135 days combing through tonnes of rubbish for the 23-year-old.
Officers have gone through more than 6,500 tonnes of waste in the £1.5 million search for missing Scottish RAF gunner.
A report by specialist officers concluded Corrie was ‘most likely’ at the landfill site
Corrie was last seen on a night out with friends in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, in the early hours of September 23, 2016
Suffolk Police officers have spent 135 days combing through tonnes of rubbish for the 23-year-old.
The search of the Milton landfill site in Cambridgeshire will be called off on Tuesday
A review of the Suffolk police investigation concluded that Corrie is ‘most likely’ to be in the 485,623 square metres Milton landfill.
He was last spotted walking into a loading bay area in the town and is feared to have fallen asleep inside a bin.
Martin McKeague, 48, paid a visit to the site of the search during the week.
Mr McKeague and his wife Tricia have sold nearly everything to buy a motorhome that they slept in next to the landfill and he told the Mirror: ‘Until the last bucket I will have hope.
‘Without hope I have nothing and I fear I will have failed my son in not finding him and bringing him home. That is the torture I cannot bear. I have promised Corrie I will never give up.’
Corrie’s dad Martin has vowed not to give up hope his son could still be found
Corrie pictured with his 21-year-old girlfriend April Oliver. The original search for him was called off after 20 weeks
Nicola Urquhart, Corrie’s mother, retraces her sons final steps in Bury St Edmunds exactly a year after his disappearance
He praised the ‘heroic work’ of officers who searched the landfill but attacked Suffolk Police for allowing ‘wicked lies’ to be published, including reports about his son’s sex and love life.
‘Falsehoods exhausted me and nearly pushed us to the brink. Corrie has been robbed of a life. We are utterly heartbroken.’
He also blamed delays in the search on his ex-wife Nicola Urquhart and a Find Corrie McKeague social media campaign that raised £50,000 to fund an alternative investigation.
Tricia described her pain at seeing ‘the strong, caring man I love being destroyed bit by bit’ by Corrie not being found.
Corrie was last seen in the area of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, known as the ‘horseshoe’ where there was a bin lorry collection at around 4.15am – 4.20am on Saturday, September 24, 2016.
The original 20-week search for Corrie, who went missing after a night out in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk on September 24 last year, was stopped in July after nothing was found.
Only one bin was collected from the area that morning and waste from it was initially taken to a transfer station at Red Lodge and then to the Milton landfill site.