The girlfriend of missing airman Corrie McKeague has announced the birth of his baby girl - on Father's Day.

April Oliver, 21, posted a picture of her cradling the newborn as she lay smiling in a hospital bed.

The tot, who has not yet been named, could be seen sleeping peacefully with her tiny hand outstretched from beneath a blanket.

April didn't confirm when the baby was born and simply posted two hearts and a unicorn emoji alongside the heartwarming image on her Facebook page today.

April Oliver, 21, posted a picture of her cradling the newborn as she lay smiling in hospital. The tot, who has not yet been named, could be seen sleeping peacefully wrapped in a blanket

She also changed her Facebook cover photo to feature the image.

Around a dozen people had 'liked' the picture just an hour after she posted it, including the little one's proud grandmother Nicola Urquhart.

April, from Downham Market, Norfolk, was hospitalised two weeks ago after doctors feared the stresses of Corrie still being missing may harm the baby.

She revealed she was expecting Corrie's child two weeks after his disappearance last September.

But the RAF gunner's father Martin McKeague claimed last month that Corrie knew she was pregnant days before he went missing.

Mr McKeague's father wished April 'all the best' this evening following the birth of his first grandchild.

Mr McKeague, 48, told how the baby girl was born on Wednesday.

However, he didn't find out until a day later when a senior member of the RAF told him the good news on Thursday.

Speaking today, Martin said: 'I'm not in the business of starting rumours and felt it was up to April Oliver to announce her own child's date of birth.

'I can only imagine that she's waited four days until Father's Day to make this announcement because she must have been recovering.

'We wish mother and baby all the best.

'As I've said before, Corrie knew about April Oliver's pregnancy before he disappeared. That's a matter of police record.'

Mr McKeague revealed that none of his family members had been in touch to tell him about his son's baby girl being born.

He does not believe the newborn has been named yet, but he said he couldn't be completely sure.

Martin added: 'When I met with a senior member of the RAF on Thursday, he asked me if I'd heard the news, to which I replied, 'No'.'

April, who had been dating Corrie for around five months before he went missing, previously shared a poignant black and white image of her baby bump.

In a emotional message to her unborn baby, she wrote: 'You bring me so much pain yet just as much joy.

Missing airman Corrie McKeague pictured with April before he went missing. 'Your daddy would be so proud of you, my little one and would love you as much as I do,' April wrote online

'Your daddy would be so proud of you, my little one and would love you as much as I do.

'Corrie will be part of both of us forever, no one can take that away.'

Corrie, 23, was last seen in the early hours of Sunday, September 24, after a night out in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

Police specialists believe that Corrie is in a landfill site in Milton, Cambs., after CCTV footage last saw him entering a refuge area behind a Greggs in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

Corrie's mobile phone was tracked following a similar route to that of a bin lorry, which was found to have carried weight akin to a human body.

Police have been searching the landfill for more than 14 weeks, and have sifted through 4,000 tonnes of waste.

Police confirmed this week that they will be deciding on whether to carry on with the investigation at the landfill site after finding no trace of Corrie during the search.

The huge £1m search could move to an incinerator site if his body is not found in the site.

Writing on the Find Corrie Facebook page on Friday, Nicola, 48, said: 'The process the police are using, without going into too much detail, is they pick an amount of rubbish up with heavy mechanical machinery and then lay it on the ground for the search team police officers to rake through, looking for Corrie, but also looking for items as small as his keys or phone.

'Whilst doing this they continue to look for Greggs branded rubbish along with items that can date and give a location, this all takes time.

'However it does mean they would not miss Corrie if he is there.

'Although this sounds like a basic and simple way of searching It, so many other possible things have been considered and a huge amount of work has been carried out to ascertain there viability such as probes for certain gases, ground penetrating radar, specialist dogs have been used where appropriate.

'We still feel confident that if Corrie is in the landfill the methods Suffolk Police are using will find him.'

Corrie is originally from Fife in Scotland and moved down to Suffolk to live at RAF Honington where he worked as a gunner and team medic in the air force.

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