Missing RAF airman Corrie McKeague ‘developed binge-drinking problem as teenager after finding friend’s body’

First day of inquest hears how parents’ divorce and death of female friend on railway line when he was 15 shaped gunner’s life before disappearance on night out in September 2016

The inquest of missing RAF gunner Corrie McKeague has heard he developed a binge-drinking problem after finding a friend’s body on a railway track as a teenager (Suffolk Police)

RAF gunner Corrie McKeague, who vanished on a night out in 2016, developed a “significant binge-drinking problem” after he found his friend dead on a railway line as a teenager, an inquest heard.

Mr McKeague, of Dunfermline, Fife, was 23 when he vanished in the early hours of 24 September 2016 after a night out in Bury St Edmunds.

Suffolk Police believe the airman, who was stationed at RAF Honington, climbed into a bin which was then tipped into a waste lorry.

Despite a multi-million pound investigation, which included two separate searches of a landfill site in Milton, Cambridgeshire, no trace of him has ever been found.

The first day of an inquest into the airman’s death, attended by his parents, siblings and girlfriend, heard how his father Martin McKeague had a “falling out” with him about his drinking shortly before his disappearance.

His mother Nicola Urquhart, who for years made numerous appeals as she held out hope her son might be alive, also told the hearing he had never climbed into a bin to sleep as far as she knew.

Mr McKeague’s father said in a statement read by lawyer Peter Taheri, counsel to the inquest: “Corrie was a happy child, however there were major events that shaped Corrie’s life.

Suffolk Police believe missing airman Corrie McKeague, 23, climbed into a bin which was then tipped into a waste lorry after a night out in September 2016 (Suffolk Constabulary )

“When Corrie was 10 years old Nicola and I had separated.

“At the age of 15, when he was first to find the body of his friend who had just been killed on a train line, I believe Corrie developed a significant binge-drinking problem.

“In his teenage years that impacted his emotional wellbeing and mired many of his relationships.

“Following a visit to my hometown in Cupar in 2016 shortly before his disappearance I once again had to have words with him about it.

“We had a falling out over it.”

He said his last contact with his son was on his birthday, 16 September, “when I sent him a message to wish him a happy birthday and I sent him money”.

He said the death of his son’s friend “was a terrible shock for a 15-year-old boy to suffer, and one I don’t think he ever truly got over”.

Mr McKeague continued: “I don’t believe Corrie was ever suicidal.

“This has been a heart-breaking tragedy.”

Nicola Urquhart, mother of missing 23-year-old RAF gunner Corrie McKeague, pictured with his brothers Darroch (right) and Makeyan (left) at Sufolk Police head quarters in 2016 (PA)

Ms Urquhart, in a statement read to the inquest in Ipswich by lawyer Adam Walker, said one of her son’s “very close female friends was hit by a train and killed instantly”.

“This event had a huge impact on Corrie,” she said.

She said Mr McKeague had started to train as a hairdresser, then as a PE teacher, before joining the RAF.

While he was prescribed antidepressants in the past, she said he was “back to his usual happy self” by 2015.

Ms Urquhart said her son “regularly lost his phone or wallet on nights out” but “was never aggressive with or without alcohol”.

“There was nothing to suggest Corrie had any problems or concerns around the time of his disappearance,” she said.

She said he had told her that he had “bumped a taxi on one occasion, meaning he had run off without paying”.

Martin McKeague, the father of Corrie McKeague, and his wife Trisha previously attended the opening of the inquest at Suffolk Coroner’s Court (PA)

She said that “if a stranger asked him to get into his boot to go to a party” she believed that he would go.

“Despite what’s in the press, as far as I’m aware Corrie had never slept in a bin nor had he ever climbed into a bin to sleep,” Ms Urquhart said.

Mr McKeague’s brother Darroch McKeague said in a statement that Corrie planned to come back to Scotland for Halloween.

He said that when he spoke to his brother on 23 September he was “happy” and “looking forward to his night out”.

Suffolk’s senior coroner Nigel Parsley said Mr McKeague, who had served in the RAF for three years, drank a “significant amount of alcohol during the evening” of 23 September.

Nicola Urquhart retraces her sons final steps in Bury St Edmunds exactly a year after his disappearance (Joe Giddens/PA)

He said Mr McKeague was asked to leave Flex nightclub and “was seen on a number of occasions on CCTV”.

“He’s seen to sometimes be alone, sometimes in conversation with others and seen to obtain food,” Mr Parsley said.

He said that at 3.25am on 24 September CCTV captured Mr McKeague entering a horseshoe-shaped area in Brentgovel Street.

“You might find based on evidence that 3.25am is the last time Corrie was seen and known to be alive,” Mr Parsley told jurors.

He said police investigations and searches failed to locate Mr McKeague, there has been no contact with family and no financial transactions that can be linked to him.

He said jurors will hear evidence about Mr McKeague’s movements on 23 and 24 September, his contact with any witnesses and “hypotheses and possible scenarios relating to Corrie’s disappearance”.

The inquest continues.

Additional reporting by Press Association