The mother of a missing Dunfermline RAF serviceman has said that she "absolutely" believes her son is still alive.

Corrie McKeague, 23, has been missing since a night out in Bury St Edmunds on September 24.

His mother, Nicola Urquhart, told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme yesterday: "No one can just disappear but not one person has been able to help us and that just does not make any sense."

A former pupil at St Columba's High School in Dunfermline, Corrie is based at RAF Honington and was last seen walking through Bury St Edmunds at 3.20am.

He had left a club and then got a takeaway before finding a shop doorway to sit, but fell asleep for two hours.

Ms Urquhart, who is a police liaison officer with Police Scotland, said he sent a photo to his friend at 3.08am and thinks that this shows he was aware of what time it was and where he was.

He then can be seen walking down a street at the back of some shops but this is a dead end that does not lead anywhere.

Ms Urquhart said: "Corrie is seen on CCTV quite clearly walking to this loading bay area for shops and there's no way of getting back out without going past cameras again, but there's not one new image of him again despite there being hours of footage."

Tony Wringe, Corrie's uncle, added: "People have asked whether this could be an act of terrorism but it is highly unlikely.

"It is also highly unlikely that Corrie has left by his own choice because there's no evidence to suggest he was preparing to do so.

"This leaves the possibility that he got into a vehicle."

Mr McKeague's mother said he could have got into a stranger's car.

She said: "It's genuinely something that Corrie would do and he would be happy to go give a stranger a lift too."

When investigations began Suffolk Police traced the serviceman's mobile phone to an area called Barton Hill.

Ms Urquhart said: "The phone data suggests that it took 28 minutes to move from Bury St Edmunds to Barton Hill, and this is how long a car journey would take between the two places.

"This means that Corrie couldn't have walked that distance.

"The police have not found the phone but it could have been moved from that area if its been damaged."

She added: "I absolutely believe he's alive and that he will come back weeks down the line saying 'You will not believe what has happened to me'.

"Someone knows something and as a police officer I know that people do not just disappear, there has to be evidence."