Hello, my first post. It's been an interesting read so far.
This case reminds me of one that was very public in 2001. The case of the gruesomely named 'Limbs in the Loch' killer William Ian Beggs who was convicted in 2001 of murdering a young Kilmarnock man Barry Wallace. Wallace was alone, the worse for drink and picked up by Beggs. It was quite a shock in the area.
Barry was split up from his group in Kilmarnock after a Christmas night out
http://www.scotsman.com/news/father-tells-how-he-had-to-identify-son-s-severed-head-1-576521
Killer Beggs Preferred picking up drunk straight men with lure of more drink
http://www.scotsman.com/news/beggs-a-sexual-predator-according-to-dead-friend-1-577603
Killer William Ian Beggs had a prior history
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/1595305.stm
I do hope that the much expounded 'limited' resources expended by the local force have not been focused to a large extent on checking, re-checking and verifying CCTV to the exclusion of more traditional (dare I say tried-and-tested) detective work.
The decision not to search for that phone at the waste disposal site, the very late-in-the-day extension of door-to-door questioning - are perhaps just 2 examples of methods which would have surely been followed up more rigorously in the past. Did they check the relevant offenders in the area? Apparently Begg's name flashed up like 'a christmas tree' when police checked 2 days after Barry's death.
Barry was, like Corrie, not perceived to be gay, however, like Corrie, he may just have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and through a fuzzy judgement (through drink) and a lack of company of friends, played into the hands of someone who would take advantage.
I hope not, but just an extension of some ideas already discussed.