The search for missing Nicola Bulley continued this afternoon as police trawled underneath a bridge seven miles from where she was last seen. The 45-year-old was last spotted on the morning of January 27 walking her dog Willow in the village of St Michaels on Wyre in Lancashire, the Mirror reports.
Her dog was later found wandering around alone and her phone was discarded on a nearby bench but there has been no trace of Nicola since she mysteriously disappeared two weeks ago today. Lancashire police launched a massive search and have been scouring the River Wyre for days with the use of specialist divers, search dogs, drones and boats in an effort to find the mortgage advisor.
Today, officers were seen in a boat underneath the Shard Bridge which is around seven and a half miles away from where the mum-of-two was last seen. Specialists were pictured in a small boat travelling under the road crossing bridge which is about halfway to the estuary from the village.
It comes as the huge search has already expanded to the Irish Sea. Police maintain their 'main working hypothesis' is that Ms Bulley fell into the river despite a body still not being found but have insisted they are keeping an open mind.
Earlier today, Nicola's devastated friends were seen lining the streets of the village where she was last seen in a vigil. Two new potential leads have emerged after a concerned resident said they spotted a suspicious-looking vehicle thought to be a Renault sitting outside a barn in St Michaels the day Nicola went missing.
A second witness has also come forward with a similar description of a 'shabby' red van. Their revelations come as police are looking into the two-hour-gap between the mum's disappearance and the first call to police to report she was missing.
The missing mum was last spotted at around 9:10am but officers weren't called until about 11am. Lancashire Police said they are working on the hypothesis that Nicola fell into the river by accident but they still have no evidence that proves this after specialists found nothing after a mile-long stretch of the River Wyre.
Specialist Group International chief Peter Faulding was called in with his team to conduct a thorough search of the river but he has recently pulled out after revealing he is '100 per cent' Nicola is not in the stretch of suspected river and said his job is done. Police are warning members of the public to not take the law into their hands when getting involved with the search and were forced to give a group a dispersal order last night.
The search moved on to Morecambe Bay yesterday where two boats with specialist teams were spotted in the sea. The possibility of Nicola leaving the area is feasible as there are at least three CCTV blind spots in the area where she was last seen.
One spot not covered by security cameras is a path that leads to Garstang Road through the village. It comes as police are requesting dashcam footage from around 700 vehicles they have identified to be passing along the main road through the village at the time Nicola vanished.
Another possible blindspot is a riverside path leading from the Wyreside Farm Caravan Park through to the A586. A camera at a house is understood to have not been working at the time but it still doesn't cover the exit.
Friends of Nicola have also said the CCTV covering one of the two exits from the river near the mobile home site Rowanwater does not work either. Anyone with information which could assist our investigation should call Lancashire Police on 101 quoting log 0565 of January 30th. For immediate sightings please call 999.
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