DETECTIVES hunting for missing RAF serviceman Corrie McKeague have started searching a huge landfill site.

Police have confirmed that 8,000 tonnes of bulk material has now been moved meaning officers can begin their work at the 920 square metre site, in Cambridgeshire.

11 The search of the landfill site in Cambridgeshire started today Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

11 RAF serviceman Corrie McKeague vanished from Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk in September Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

11 Corrie, 23, went missing after a night out in Bury St Edmunds last year and hasn't been seen since Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

11 Detectives want to search the 900-metre site in Cambridgeshire as they hunt for Corrie five months after he went missing on a night out Credit: Fame Flynet

Corrie, 23, went missing after a night out with friends in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, on September 24 2016.

He was last seen on CCTV going into an area of the town called the horseshoe.

Police know a waste collection was made from the area hours after he was last seen but the landfill - 27 miles away - has not been searched.

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The landfill site is close to where the RAF airman’s phone was last tracked five months ago and police believe there's a chance he could be there.

A forensic search of the rubbish truck did not reveal any trace of the airman, originally from Dunfermline, Fife.

Detective Superintendent Katie Elliott said: "The search is likely to take six to ten weeks to complete, although this will obviously depend on daily progress on the site.

"We have a large area – around 920 square metres, up to a depth of eight metres – of waste to search through and a plan has been put in place to manage this process to ensure a thorough and comprehensive search is undertaken.

"Teams of specialist search trained police officers from both Suffolk and Norfolk will be carrying out the work to find anything that may be linked to the investigation."

Today a truck and digger could be seen moving debris at the site while workmen in high-vis jackets patrolled.

11 Specialist teams started searching a landfill site doe the missing airman today Credit: Fame Flynet

11 The search had been delayed while workmen prepared the landfill site Credit: GEOFF ROBINSON PHOTOGRAPHY

11 Corrie's mum and brother Nicola Urquhart and Darroch McKeague have been instrumental in searching for Corrie Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

11 CCTV shows Corrie disappearing into an area known as the horseshoe, and a waste collection was known to be made there hours after he was last seen Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

11

Corrie, a gunner stationed at RAF Honington Suffolk, was last seen in the early hours of September 24 after a night out drinking with pals in Bury St Edmunds.

CCTV shows him in the town centre at 3.25am, but in spite of a massive police inquiry in which hundreds of people have been interviewed, his disappearance remains a complete mystery.

Police say they traced his mobile phone to a spot between Bury and Cambridge before the signal vanished and the route was the same as a journey made by a bin lorry on the day Corrie disappeared.

Corrie's mum Nicola Urquhart has said there’s a "good possibility" of finding him at the landfill site.

Corrie's family have had huge public support in their search for the missing airman, which continued as the latest search was announced.

11 Police are also now looking for this witness who was seen in the area at the same time as Corrie was last seen - this person has not been arrested Credit: Suffolk Constabulary

11 The second person police would like to speak to as a witness - this person is not the man who was arrested Credit: Suffolk Constabulary

Last week police investigating the disappearance arrested a man on suspicion of perverting the course of justice.

Officers have confirmed he is not the driver of a bin lorry which collected waste from the area where Corrie was last seen.

Last week further CCTV of potential witnesses was released - neither of those pictured in the CCTV were the man arrested.

Anyone with information about his disappearance is asked to call the incident room at Suffolk Police on 01473 782019.

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