Police say ‘possibility’ Nicola Bulley left area on path not covered by CCTV

Nicola Bulley’s body may have been swept out to sea by now, the head of the specialist rescue team searching for her has said.

Peter Faulding told The Times that he believed Ms Bulley’s body could have reached the sea by now if she had fallen into the River Wyre, given the distance and the meandering course of the river.

Superintendent Sally Riley also told reporters: “The amount of technology that we have put into the river – clearly as time goes on, the open sea becomes much more of a possibility.”

Police would continue to search the river until they received guidance from national bodies to do otherwise, Supt Riley added.

A forensic expert leading the underwater search for missing Nicola Bulley has been left “baffled” by “strange” events in the mother’s disappearance.

The 45-year-old disappeared while on her regular dog walk in the quiet village of St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire.

Dropping her children off at school, she took her spaniel Willow for a stroll by the river and was sighted at around 9am by a witness but despite an extensive search, she has yet to be found.

Police investigating the disappearance of Nicola Bulley are “extending the search out to sea”.

The mother-of-two, 45, was last seen on a riverside dog walk in St Michael’s on Wyre on Friday 27 January.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, superintendent Sally Riley of Lancashire Constabulary confirmed “our search of the river and the river banks extends out to the sea”.

Police were focusing “particularly on the area from Knott End out towards Morecambe”, she said.

An underwater search expert has responded to online claims that he is assisting with efforts to find Nicola Bulley due to an “ulterior motive.”

Peter Faulding, head of Specialist Group International, told TalkTV that those speculating about him are “heartless individuals.”

Mr Faulding has been assisting with searches in the River Wyre, close to where the mother-of-two disappeared on Friday, 27 January.

“This is what you get for trying to help people. I have given my life to helping families looking for missing loved ones. Do our job searching in dark murky waters for a drowning victims,” he tweeted.

The mystery of a missing mother-of-two who disappeared while walking her dog has captured the nation’s attention, with no hint of an answer in sight.

Nicola Bulley vanished on a riverside path in Lancashire nearly two weeks ago, and now a man dubbed the ’Human Mole’ is hoping to help find out what happened.

Forensics expert Peter Faulding joined the search for Ms Bulley this week, after raising concerns about the police theory she slipped and fell into the River Wyre.

The founder and CEO of Specialist Group International has not been shy in his criticism, describing the probe as “a mess” and claiming details in the case “don’t add up”.

But what do we know about him, and how qualified is he to make such assessments? Martha McHardy explains.

A family friend of missing woman Nicola Bulley has said speculation about the disappearance was hard for the family to take as members of the public are taking selfies in the area, making it feel like a “tourist spot”.

Heather Gibbons spoke on the banks of the River Wyre while, below her, Peter Faulding and his team from Specialist Group International, used a sonar to scan the depths on day 12 of the search.

Family and friends of mother-of-two Ms Bulley, 45, have questioned the police “theory” that she probably fell into the water while walking her dog, after dropping her children off at school in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancs on January 27.

The partner of missing mother-of-two Nicola Bulley has been back to the riverbank where she vanished.

Paul Ansell, who has spoken of the “perpetual hell” of not knowing what has happened to Ms Bulley, spent around 10 minutes close to a bench overlooking the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre, as day 12 of the search continued in the Lancashire village.

But he was told by underwater search expert Paul Faulding, called in by the family to help in the hunt, that Ms Bulley, 45, had still not been found.