The mother missing RAF serviceman Corrie McKeague has revealed she received a phone call saying he had been mugged and thrown into a bin.

East Anglian Daily Times: Nicola Urquhart pictured in Bury St Edmunds in 2016 Picture: ARCHANTNicola Urquhart pictured in Bury St Edmunds in 2016 Picture: ARCHANT

Nicola Urquhart shared the new revelation after an inquest opened into his death on Friday. The body of the gunner, who was based at RAF Honington, has never been found.

Ms Urquhart said she had received a phone call from a man claiming that he and a friend had attempted to mug Corrie in the centre of Bury St Edmunds on Saturday, September 24, 2016 – the night he went missing – but after it went wrong they threw him into the bin.

She added she had been given strict instructions by the police not to tell anyone about the claims. Corrie is presumed to be dead.

East Anglian Daily Times: Martin McKeague, the father of Corrie McKeague, and his wife Trisha, attend the opening of the inquest at Suffolk Coroner's Court, Ipswich Picture: Sam Russell/PA WireMartin McKeague, the father of Corrie McKeague, and his wife Trisha, attend the opening of the inquest at Suffolk Coroner's Court, Ipswich Picture: Sam Russell/PA Wire

MORE: Inquest opens into presumed death of Corrie Mckeague

“I received a phone call from a member of the public saying that they knew somebody who said he and his friend had tried to rob Corrie,” she explained. “It had gone wrong and they’d put him in the bin.

“I told the police about this, I gave them all the information, as was agreed before I started getting calls from people like this – and the police said this was huge, I wasn’t to tell anybody.”

East Anglian Daily Times: Corrie McKeague, who disappeared following a night out in Bury St Edmunds in 2016 Picture: COURTESY OF FAMILYCorrie McKeague, who disappeared following a night out in Bury St Edmunds in 2016 Picture: COURTESY OF FAMILY (Image: Archant)

Suffolk police believe Corrie had climbed into the bin outside Greggs in the “Horsehoe”.

Two huge search operations had taken place at a landfill site in Milton, Cambridgeshire, where the bin would’ve been emptied, but had shown no sign of the 23-year-old.

Ms Urquhart added the phone call is why police had returned to the landfill site, however said she believed police had done all they could to search both the site and bin lorry.

She said: “I have complete faith in the officers that were down there doing that search – that had Corrie been there, or any part of him, they would have found it.

“That all being said, it gave me the comfort that Suffolk police had gone above and beyond in searching that landfill.”

MORE: Corrie McKeague’s dad says there is no mystery behind disappearance

Ms Urquhart added she had also received a call from the wife of a taxi driver – claiming that he had hit Corrie with a bat and left his body in the woods after he was sick inside his car.

She said: “The lady phoned to say her husband – a taxi driver – had picked Corrie up that night, heading towards his base, but the boy was drunk, started being sick – so the taxi driver stopped, got out, tried to drag the boy out of his taxi.

“He ended up hitting him over the head with this bat and dragged him into the woods and left him there.

“On top of that we also had this person that said they were in the woods and they saw what they believed were the remains of a body that had been burned.”

The person is said to have reported this to the police on several occasions, before Ms Urquhart reported it herself.

Although Ms Urquhart pushed for an inquest into Corrie’s supposed death to be opened, she said that she wants to ensure all possibilities are covered during the inquest process – rather than accepting the landfill outcome without ironing out others.

“I still have questions I would like answered – I would still like to know that we’ve done all we possibly can and that there aren’t any other areas we should be searching or any other people we should be speaking to,” she said.

Speaking when the constabulary shelved the investigation in 2018, assistant chief constable Simon Megicks said: “Saddened as I am that we have not found Corrie, I have absolute confidence in the way the investigation was conducted.”