Corrie McKeague was spotted an hour after the final known sighting of the 23-year-old, a witness has claimed. 

Delivery driver Roy Hawes told the police that he saw the airman from Dunfermline at 4.30am walking across a road on the night he vanished from Bury St Edmunds.

The sighting was 66 minutes after Corrie was last seen on CCTV entering a Gregg's refuse area and 12 miles outside Bury St Edmunds. 

Mr Hawes has claimed that police have not investigated his sighting properly. 

The 55 year-old said: "I saw him clear as day. The police should follow this up."

However, Suffolk police have disputed these claims and have insisted that no positive sightings were made of the missing gunner after 3.24am on September 24 last year. 

Corrie disappeared after a night out with colleagues from his airbase RAF Honington. 

Police believe that Corrie could possibly be lying in a landfill site in nearby Milton, after a bin lorry was found to have an extremely large load put into it near where the RAF gunner was last seen. 

A spokesperson for Suffolk Police said: “Police have located the report made, which said a person had been seen running across the road. No description of the person could be given, and it was said to have been around 4am but the caller could not be specific about the day. The time given was prior to Corrie ’s phone leaving Bury St Edmunds and there was nothing to link this to Corrie . 

“As part of early enquiries, police carried out searches in the Barton Mills area to see if Corrie could be located, and carried out extensive CCTV viewing, which showed no positive sightings of Corrie leaving the area on foot. 

“Our investigation continues and currently remains focused on the search at Milton landfill site after the weight of a refuse bin taken from Bury St Edmunds was found to be significantly higher than first thought.”

Meanwhile, the mother of Corrie McKeague has told members of the Find Corrie group on Facebook that it is harder to stay positive as time goes by. 

Nicola Urquhart wrote: "As the days have turned into months it's so difficult to remain positive that we will find Corrie. What I am positive off, is I will never stop trying.

"The police are still searching the area round the Landfill they are doing this because they still believe they will find Corrie there. So all I can do is wait. 

"There is no new news and nothing has been found in connection with Corrie."