If you look back through this dialogue, I came up with a potential model that would explain it. Yes it was based on speculation but looking at this walkway video it seems to fit even more (it still may not be the definitive answer):
1. Corrie refuses a lift from the American as he's already arranged a lift. The collection point is behind SUPERDRUG near the bins as this gives easy access DOWN Shortbrackland and back UP Shortbrackland (work out a possible destination from here).
2. He CAN'T be heading towards McDonalds for a burger as he's just eaten.
3. He could have spotted someone in the little alley adjacent to the Nailbar which would explain why he turned around. It would also explain the possible movement in the second video.
4. 0330 seems an easy, throw away time for a collection by vehicle. So does 0315 but 'half three' trips off the tongue easier.
5. If he is mugged behind the bins its out of sight of the CCTV camera. That suggests that the 'perp' is aware of the movements and location of said CCTV camera.
6. If he was meeting work friends from the nightclub which he left, that suggests to me that the location he was last seen in is 'off route' for the taxi to collect him from as the nightclub is in a different routing network. Possible but not probable in my mind.
7. This leaves me to think he's NOT being collected by a local taxi. That he's NOT heading anywhere other than back to base. That his phone is SEPERATE to him.
My comments (although contentious) are designed to stimulate different thought processes we can ask ourselves positive questions and promote healthy critique.
@Midsummer
Yep, I get all that.
But (there's always a but) can I question a couple of things.
I don't know the bloomin answer, so it could be anyone's guess.
If he is waiting for a "lift" or "not a local taxi" then I ask,
how special is that "lift" ?
If he is waiting. He waits for two hours !
He doesn't call anyone or text anyone. He doesn't ask to be collected earlier. Nothing.
That must be one hell of a "special lift".
If he is heading instead for a local taxi, he is slightly "off route".
But not massively off route. Not at all if he is going for a pee. And in the CCTV it "looks" like he is going for a pee.
If that is so, then we are back to being bemused..... because of that "two hour wait".
So, concentrating on the fact he might be going for a pee....and gets mugged.
When you go for a pee, you check that "the coast is clear". Especially in the place you're about to pee.
But lets say "a mugger was hiding there".
What for, to mug someone having a pee, then incapacitate then. And then kidnap them !
That's one hell of a "random mugger". And the mugger drove there !
So, in a vain attempt to "fit the jigsaw" together, I try to fit "the wait" with his later actions in cctv #2.
If he was meeting someone in the loading bay area at "half three", then that could explain his wait.
It could also explain why he walked that way when entering Short Brackland.
It may also explain how Corrie's phone got into the bin. That bin being the closet to the incident.
But.... that scenario would be "more likely" if the phone was discovered in the "refuse sorting area". And it wasn't !
This is where it gets very tricky.
We are told the refuse was "
recyclable". And that it went to a "
refuse sorting site".
But the refuse was
neither sorted or indeed
not searched by the police. So the phone is not found.
A simple answer could be, "that refuse was always destined for the incinerator. And went that weekend".
But I don't know if all this talk of "landfill" and so on, is "mis-direction".
Saying "the phone was in the refuse" would immediately indicate several things....
1. The incident likely happened in the loading area, next to the bins.
2. Corrie was separated from his phone and therefore it is highly likely he was abducted.
3. Corrie could have departed Bury in any direction, tacking his phone is useless.
4. He didn't go for a pee, he wouldn't pee next to a car parked in the loading area with a person in it
And that is why "where the phone was, is massively important" !
So what do we know, that supports ANY of that assumption ?
There was much talk of "landfill". But the refuse was incinerated.
There has been no "large scale General Public search" of the Barton Mills areas. Why risk the public.
There has been no public acceptance by the police of "third party involvement".
There is no public acceptance by the police of the possibility of "abduction".
There is "media suppression" of the story. No "investigatory reporter" has written an article.
The other "crucial" bit about "the phone in the bin" scenario is, it would add weight to the possibility that Corrie was not heading to the bin area for a pee, but instead meeting a person and a vehicle....
....and therefore his meeting was "pre-arranged". And what does that mean ? It could mean he was ambushed.
