An RAF gunner who disappeared on a night out in 2016 developed a “significant binge-drinking” problem after his friend died on a trainline when he was a teenager, an inquest has heard.
Corrie McKeague, of Dunfermline, Fife, was 23 when he vanished in the early hours of the morning on 24 September after a night out in Bury St Edmunds.
Suffolk Police believe Mr McKeague, who was stationed at RAF Honington, climbed into a bin which was then tipped into a waste lorry.
His father, Martin McKeague, said in a statement read out by Peter Taheri, counsel to the inquest, that “Corrie was a happy child, however, there were major events that shaped Corrie’s life”.
He said: “When Corrie was 10-years-old Nicola (Urquhart, Corrie’s mother) 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.
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“Following a visit to my home town 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.”
Death of a close friend had a ‘huge impact’ on Corrie McKeague
A statement was also read out by lawyer Adam Walker, from Mr McKeague’s mother, who said one of her son’s “very close female friends was hit by a train and killed instantly” and it had a “huge impact on Corrie”.
She said her son had started training as a hairdresser, then a PE teacher, before joining the RAF.
According to Ms Urquhart, her son was prescribed antidepressants in the past but he was “back to his usual happy self” by 2015.
“There was nothing to suggest Corrie had any problems or concerns around the time of his disappearance,” she said.
In her statement, she said he had told her that he had “bumped a taxi on one occasion, meaning he had run off without paying”.
She added that “if a stranger asked him to get into his boot to go to a party”, she believed 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.
Corrie McKeague was ‘looking forward” to night out
Darroch McKeague said in a statement that he spoke to his brother on 23 September and he was “happy” and “looking forward to his night out”.
He added that Corrie was planning to go back to Scotland for Halloween.
Suffolk’s senior coroner, Nigel Parsley, said Mr McKeague, who had served in the RAF for three years, drank a “significant amount of alcohol” on 23 September.
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.
At around 3.25am on 24 September, CCTV footage captured Mr McKeague entering a horseshoe-shaped area in Brentgovel Street, Mr Parsley said.
“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 and added jurors will hear evidence about Mr McKeague’s movements on the night in question, his contact with any witnesses and “hypotheses and possible scenarios relating to Corrie’s disappearance”.
The inquest, due to last for up to four weeks, continues.
