Nicola Bulley: Search expert says he is ‘totally baffled’ by caseon February 7, 2023 at 5:09 am

A forensic search expert who is looking for Nicola Bulley has said it is the “most baffling case” he has worked on.

Peter Faulding, head of a team of underwater experts searching the River Wyre, said another stretch near where she went missing would be scoured.

The 45-year-old was last seen on a riverside dog walk in St Michael’s on Wyre in Lancashire 11 days ago.

Her partner Paul Ansell issued a fresh appeal on Monday, saying her daughters missed her desperately.

Speaking on TalkTV on Monday night, Mr Faulding said: “After 24-25 years of doing this type of work and hundreds of cases, I am totally baffled.

He said the river was “not moving fast” and normally if people drown “they generally go down where they are”.

“We normally find them within five to 10m of where they went down – even after a few days.

“This is the most baffling case I’ve ever worked on.”

Detectives investigating the disappearance are focusing their efforts on a river path as they continue the search.

The force said sightings show her movements from the school, where she dropped her two daughters off, along the river path and into the field.

They urged drivers or cyclists on Garstang Road to contact them.

Mr Ansell said in a statement released by Lancashire Police on Monday: “It’s been 10 days now since Nicola went missing and I have two little girls who miss their mummy desperately and who need her back.

“This has been such a tough time for the girls especially but also for me and all of Nicola’s family and friends, as well as the wider community and I want to thank them for their love and support.”

A team of divers from the private Specialist Group International (SGI), headed up by Mr Faulding, searched “three or four miles” of river until it got dark on Monday.

“It’s a negative search, no signs of Nicola”, he said.

He told TalkTV a search “further up the river” towards where Ms Bulley originally went missing was taking place and he had “total faith” in the police’s dive team.

In an update the force said: “We can say with confidence that by reviewing CCTV, Nicola has not left the field during the key times via Rowanwater, either through the site itself or via the piece of land at the side.

“Also, we can say that she did not return from the fields along Allotment Lane or via the path at the rear of the Grapes pub on to Garstang Road.

“Our inquiries now focus on the river path which leads from the fields back to Garstang Road – for that we need drivers and cyclists who travelled that way on the morning of 27 January to make contact.”

Police believe Ms Bulley may have fallen into the River Wyre, but they “remain open minded” and are continuing to carry out a “huge number” of inquiries.

The force said officers have “spoken to numerous witnesses, analysed Nicola’s mobile phone and Fitbit and searched the derelict house on the other side of the river as well as any empty caravans in the vicinity”.

Divers are scouring the water and the search continues involving mountain rescue, sniffer dogs and helicopters.

Ms Bulley had dropped her two daughters, aged six and nine, off at school and then went on her usual dog walk alongside the river.

Her phone, still connected to a Teams call for her job as a mortgage adviser, was found on a bench on a steep riverbank overlooking the water, along with the dog lead and the dog harness on the ground.

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