Mum of Corrie McKeague calls for stricter bin safety a decade after his death
Corrie was last seen on CCTV footage a decade ago
The mum of an RAF serviceman who was crushed to death in a commercial waste bin has called for stricter safety measures on the 10th anniversary of his disappearance.
Corrie McKeague, 23, from Dunfermline, Fife, vanished following a night out in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, in September 2016.
A 2022 inquest concluded the RAF gunner died after climbing into an unlocked bin that was subsequently tipped into a waste lorry.
Speaking to STV News a decade on from the tragedy, his mother Nicola Urquhart said his disappearance still feels like "yesterday" and expressed frustration over a lack of industry progress regarding bin safety.
She revealed that during visits to the "horseshoe" area where her son was last seen on CCTV, she consistently finds commercial bins left open, despite inquest recommendations calling for mandatory locks.
"Every time I hope that it will be locked this time and every time I've been, it's never been locked. Not once," she told the broadcaster.
Ms Urquhart suggested waste management companies should refuse to empty unlocked bins and instead fine the responsible businesses. She also claimed Biffa, the firm that operated the lorry, has never contacted or apologised to her family.
While she praised the recent installation of a new CCTV camera over the horseshoe area, she warned that without locked bins, similar tragedies could still occur.
A Suffolk Constabulary spokesperson said: "Our thoughts are with Corrie’s family and friends at the tenth anniversary of his disappearance."
“As we have explained previously, the active inquiry into Corrie McKeague’s disappearance is now closed. Unless any new, realistic and credible information becomes available then the investigation remains complete. Currently, there remains no information available that changes the status of the investigation.”