Detectives investigating the disappearance of Nicola Bulley made a mistake by declaring too “early” that she was in the River Wyre, a diving and forensics expert involved in the case has claimed.
Peter Faulding, whose Specialist Internationalist Group firm searched a stretch of the river where Ms Bulley was last seen, said Lancashire Constabulary should initially have kept other lines of inquiry open for longer.
Ms Bulley 45, of Inskip, Lancashire, disappeared while walking her dog in a field next to the river in St Michaels on Wyre on the morning of 27 January after dropping her two children off at school.
Her mobile phone and springer spaniel, Willow, were found near a bench in the field. Despite two sightings of Ms Bulley in the hour leading up to her disappearance and an extensive search of the area police have been unable to find any traces of her.
Paul Ansell, Ms Bulley’s partner, has said he’s “100 per cent convinced” she’s not in the river and suggested that somebody “who knows the local area” might be involved in the mother-of-two’s disappearance.
Mr Faulding, who has worked on a series of high-profile missing person cases – including MI6 officer Gareth Williams who was found naked inside a padlocked bag – also said that a third party could be involved and suggested that Ms Bulley’s phone could have been placed on the bench to act as a “decoy”.
He has been critical of Lancashire Constabulary’s investigation into the disappearance and in an interview with the Mail cast fresh doubt on the theory that Ms Bulley was in the river.
“I think the worst mistake the police have made was to declare early on that she’s in the river rather than saying ‘let’s keep lines of inquiry open,’” he said. “This is a lady who knew this area intimately, she was slim and fit, and if she had fallen she could have grabbed on to the bank.”
Ms Bulley, a mortgage adviser, left her home at around 8.26am on the morning she vanished. She dropped her children off at school at 8.40am and had a brief conversation with a parent.
At 8.43am she began walking along the path by the River Wyre towards the gate/bench into the lower field.
At approximately 8.47 a dog-walker – somebody who knows Ms Bulley– saw her walking around the lower field with her dog. Their two dogs interacted briefly before the witness left the field via the river path.
Over the next 14 minutes Ms Bulley emailed her boss, sent a message to a friend and then logged into a Microsoft Teams work call at 9.01am.
At approximately 9.10am a second witness saw her on the upper field walking her dog. Lancashire Police previously said work was ongoing to establish exactly what time this was.
At 9.20am her phone was back in the area of the bench. Some 10 minutes later the Teams call ended but Ms Bulley stayed logged on.
Ms Bulley’s phone and dog were then found on a bench by the river by another dog-walker at approximately 9.33am.
In an interview with Channel 5, Mr Ansell explained that he and his partner had done the walk where she disappeared for years.
He said someone in the village must know something about what happened to Ms Bulley.
“Whatever has happened – in my eyes – has to be somebody who, who knows the local area, who knows that. And the fact that nothing’s been seen or heard, I just truly believe that it’s something in the village,” he said.
Mr Ansell also grew emotional as he discussed his wife’s disappearance.
“It is horrendous because you people don’t just vanish into thin air. It’s absolutely impossible. So something has happened.”
He went on to beg for the search for his partner to be stepped up.
“My plea now is personally, I want every house, every garage, every out building, the land scrutinised. I want it all searched. I want it all scrutinised, every piece of it. And I’m, you’re not gonna appease me with anything else. That, that is what I want to happen.”
Ms Bulley is 5ft 3ins tall, with light brown shoulder-length hair and speaks with an Essex accent. She was last seen wearing a long, knee length black quilted gilet with a hood.
She had a black Engelbert Strauss coat underneath which had long sleeves and came to her waist.
She was wearing tight black jeans and had long green walking socks tucked into her jeans. She was wearing size 5 ankle length green wellington boots from Next.
Her hair was tied into a ponytail and she was wearing a pale blue Fitbit watch.
In an update on Friday, Lancashire Constabulary said it was “keeping an open mind” about what happened but continuing to search the river.
However, the focus of the investigation has moved further downstream into the area of the river which becomes tidal and then out towards the coast.
“Based on all the work we have done up to now our belief remains that Nicola may have fallen into the river for some reason, but we are continuing to investigate all possible leads, and this involves viewing CCTV, dashcam footage and speaking to people who are providing us with information,” the force said in a statement.
“It remains the case that at the present time there is absolutely nothing in all the extensive enquiries we have made that suggests anything untoward has happened or that there is any third-party involvement in Nicola’s disappearance, but the investigation is ongoing.
“Throughout this investigation we have been keeping an open mind about what might have happened to Nicola, and we continue to look at all the potential scenarios to eliminate them. We are reviewing our decisions regularly.”
