Mother-of-two Nicola Bulley could have gone "off-grid", a missing persons expert has claimed as the search entered its fourth week.
Ms Bulley vanished while walking her dog along the River Wyre on 27 January, shortly after dropping her daughters off at school. The dog’s lead and her phone were later discovered on a nearby bench, the device still connected to a work Teams call.
Police this week doubled down on the theory she fell into the water, but searches of the river have so far yielded no sign of her.
Criticism of Lancashire Police has been mounting over the handling of the case, after the force revealed on Wednesday that Ms Bulley had "significant" issues with alcohol brought on by her struggles with menopause.
Missing persons expert Charlie Hedges, who has four decades of experience searching for missing adults and children, today said he thinks “we need to keep our minds open to all options” over her disappearance.
“The river was the most important thing to check out. That’s been thoroughly searched with no outcome and no indication that she’s there,” he told GB News on Saturday.
“Nobody goes missing without a reason, and understanding what’s going on in someone’s life is really really important. And all lines of action need to be followed.
“It may be just that she just took the decision to go off, but it’s not that easy to go off-grid in today’s world.”
He added: “They’ve said throughout they’ve been pursuing other lines of inquiry and that’s essential to any case like this. The normal procedure would be to have a working hypothesis based on what is the most likely thing to happen.
“And unfortunately, this case is a very high-profile search activity… But in the background, I’m quite confident that a lot of activity will have been taking place, looking at other options, looking at what else might happen.”
Meanwhile, the police decision to disclose personal details about Ms Bulley has sparked an investigation by a data watchdog.
Prime minister Rishi Sunak said he was “concerned that private information was put into the public domain”. Home secretary Suella Braverman is also said to have outlined concerns during a meeting with chief constable Chris Rowley on Friday.
After police issued the statement revealing Ms Bulley’s alcohol struggles, her family begged the public to stop speculating about her private life, saying: “We believe the public focus has become distracted from finding Nikki.”
They claimed people have been threatening to sell stories about the missing mother-of-two’s private life, which they called “appalling”.
The statement ended with a personal appeal for Ms Bulley to come home.
“Nikki, we hope you are reading this and know that we love you so much and your girls want a cuddle. We all need you home. You can reach out to us, or you can contact MissingPeople.org.uk. Don’t be scared, we all love you so very much.”
