The father of Dunfermline RAF serviceman Corrie McKeague has said his son is "no longer missing" and believes he is in a waste disposal system after seeing "compelling" evidence from police.

Corrie, who was based at RAF Honington, vanished after a night out in nearby Bury St Edmunds when he was 23-year-old on September 24, 2016.

Police believe he climbed into a bin and was taken away in a lorry to a rubbish tip in Milton, Cambridgeshire.

Detectives carried out two extensive searches there but with no trace of him found the investigation was handed to a cold case squad in March.

Martin McKeague wrote on Facebook: "Corrie is no longer missing. What we mean by this is that after looking at all of the facts and evidence we now know what happened to my son.

"We are certain he is somewhere in the Suffolk waste disposal system, but his remains are essentially irretrievable."

He said that police visited the family in Scotland to review the facts of the case in detail in October and February and that the evidence presented was "as thorough as it was compelling".

He added that experts had concluded "beyond any doubt that Corrie had ended up in the Suffolk waste disposal system".

"Accepting that conclusion has clearly not been easy for the McKeague family in Scotland, nor anyone else," Mr McKeague wrote.

"That’s why we feel Corrie is no longer missing, but rather his body is irretrievable because the remaining waste disposal environments are either too toxic to search, and the size of Cell 22 is so vast that it could take years to do so in order to find out exactly where he came to rest."

Corrie, a former St Columba's High School pupil, was last seen on CCTV entering the "Horseshoe" area of Bury St Edmunds in the early hours of the morning.

Detectives were baffled for months of how he could have exited the area without being seen as the weight measurements of the refuse vehicle that collected in that area did not add up.

Family members said it wouldn't have been unusual for the Dunfermline gunner to sleep in a bin after a night out as he had been known to do that in the past.

However, early last year it was confirmed that the refuse company had got the weight of the rubbish wrong, meaning it was much heavier than previously thought.

Mr McKeague said there had been no new enquiries and no further active investigative work undertaken by the police into his son’s disappearance because there are "no further avenues to pursue".

"The facts and evidence show Corrie didn’t walk out or leave the Horseshoe in any way other than the back of that Biffa bin lorry," he added.

"This has been an unbelievable and horrific journey of grieve and acceptance for the McKeague family and we want to thank you all again for standing up and standing by us."

There are plans for a memorial for Corrie in the future, he said.