A leading murder detective claims the police searching for missing mum Nicola Bulley have made a number of crucial errors.
The search for the 45-year-old mortgage adviser has entered a third week after she suddenly vanished 17 days ago.
Former Met Police detective chief inspector Simon Harding says the trust from the family and the public is plummeting because of how police have handled the process.
He says by sticking with their "hypothesis" that the dog walker fell in the river, they have harmed the search.
Her partner Paul Ansell said in an interview on Friday night that he '100% knows' she is not in the river.
Mr Harding also wants to know why there was no cordon put in place around where Miss Bulley went missing last month.
The detective went on to question why Lancashire Police didn't instantly recognise her disappearance to be wildly out of character.
Writing in the Sunday Times, Mr Harding said: "It is now crystal clear that those closest to the investigation, her family and close friends, simply do not believe the hypothesis put to them.
He added: "The police settled on a tragic accident and made their thinking public within days, but to say this to the family and media, you must be 100 per cent certain."
He also said the early message put out could be very damaging to the case.
The former top cop continued: "You are inadvertently saying to the public: 'Don’t call us as we don’t want to know about suspicious people, vehicles or events'."
He went on to say police later undermined their early statement by saying they were keeping "an open mind".
The search has been underway since Nicola, known as Nikki, to her friends disappeared while walking her dog near the river in St Michael's on Wyre in Lancashire, on Friday, January 27.
Lancashire Police launched a massive search and were seen combing the river bank, utilising diving teams, search dogs, drones and boats to no avail.
It comes as a retired detective claims police are right to explore the theory that mum fell in the river based on three factors.
Julie Mackay, a retired Detective Superintendent who previously solved a 32-year-old murder, has told the Mirror that she backs the police's working hypothesis based on three factors:
- No new information has given them a reason to think otherwise.
- It is unlikely to be criminal based on the time she disappeared.
- The winter conditions would make it harder to find her
She said: "I still believe she's gone in that river - today when you look at the last two weeks and review it, nothing has changed."
Mr Ansell told Channel 5's Dan Walker: “I have to categorically say I cannot fault the police in any of this, they have been incredible, and the relationship that we have working on this is still very, very strong, it’s very good.
"So this isn’t any criticism of them at all, I just want to make that clear."
The dad told the presenter he thought a local was behind the disappearance of Nicola.
He also believes the discovery of her phone on a bench could be just a 'decoy'.
The missing mum's mobile was discovered still on a work call when it was found by a dog walker two weeks ago.
Her dog's harness was also found next to the bench.
He said: "We always felt that the mobile phone and the harness could possibly be a decoy. Again, we don't have evidence."
Dan asked him: "But these are things that you naturally would think about because, you know, the team's call was still active at the time, wasn't it? And Willow's harness is on the floor and, you know, I'm sure these are things that constantly you are thinking about."
He replied: "Of course it is. I mean, the only thing we're bothered about is finding her - nothing else matters."
The Mirror has contacted Lancashire Police for comment.
