One week on from the disappearance of 45-year-old Nicola Bulley, police have now confirmed that they believe the mum-of-two has fallen into the River Wyre.
Speaking to the media this afternoon (Friday, February 3), Superintendent Sally Riley confirmed that the "main working hypothesis is that Nicola has fallen into the river". The mortgage adviser went missing last Friday morning while walking the family dog along the River Wyre in St Michael's-on-Wyre in Lancashire.
Police and search and rescue teams have been looking for Nicola since then and one week on, the police gathered the press where they announced they don't believe she left the riverbank. Her phone is believed to have been placed on a nearby bench at around 9.20am while on a Microsoft Teams conference call.
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The phone was later found shortly after 9.30am. Following extensive enquiries, police have searched 15km of the river as well as 1km of ground around the bench where Nicola's phone was last seen.
SI Riley said: "Our main working hypothesis is that Nicola has sadly fallen into the river, that there is no third party or criminal involvement and this is not suspicious. This is particularly important because speculation otherwise can be really distressing for the family and for Nicola's children."
It was also confirmed that the timeframe for which police can't account for was between 9.10am and 9.20am, with her dog, Willow, being found dry and not believed to have gone into the river.
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