The mother of missing RAF serviceman Corrie McKeague says she understands that some people will be "awfully confused" over her acceptance of an inquest jury's conclusion into her son's death.

The airman, who was based at RAF Honington in Suffolk, was 23 when he disappeared in the early hours of September 24, 2016, after a night out in Bury St Edmunds.

On Tuesday, a jury inquest at Suffolk Coroner's Court recorded a narrative conclusion that the RAF gunner, who was originally from Fife, Scotland, was in a bin that was tipped into a waste lorry.

In their conclusion, they said Mr McKeague’s “death was contributed to by impaired judgment due to alcohol consumption”.

They said there were “ineffective bin locks”, an “ineffective search of the bin” before it was tipped, and “poor visibility through a Perspex viewing window on the lorry”.

Speaking directly after the three-week inquest, Corrie's mother, Nicola Urquhart, said she “100%” believes her son was tipped into a waste lorry after her questions about his disappearance were answered.

But speaking to this newspaper, Mrs Urquhart, who has often voiced concerns over the police investigation, said she will explain her reasons behind accepting the conclusion when the time is right.

"It's been so much more emotional than I thought it was going to be. I am just so utterly numb right now that I just need a little bit of time," she said.

"We're just trying to explain things a little because a lot of people are now awfully confused as to why we now suddenly believe that Corrie has ended up going up into the bin, and then to landfill when for so long some people kind of wrongly assumed that we've been saying that couldn't happen.

"So, it's more a case of trying to explain to people how we've come about this decision now that we accept the jury's final decision.

"But it's too hard to do in interviews as it's such a big thing to try to explain. All we are going to do is write something and I'll just read it out and post it onto Find Corrie [Facebook group].

"But that's going to take us a little bit of time because we're still trying to just process everything we've been told."

Mrs Urquhart added that she now hopes to arrange a memorial service for her son with the RAF, but discussions will need to take place before that could happen.