Missing Nicola Bulley’s partner Paul Ansell tonight begged police to widen their land search for her and “leave no stone unturned”.
Officers believe Nicola, 45, fell in a river near where she went missing but Paul, her partner of 12 years and the father to their two daughters, said: “It’s time to widen the search. If that means searching every house and outbuilding in the area then that needs to be done.”
Nicola, known as Nikki, vanished on a dog walk in the village of St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancs, on January 27.
Two weeks of searches in the River Wyre by Lancashire Constabulary have proved inconclusive and a private underwater search team led by sonar expert Peter Faulding also failed to find any sign of her.
Diver Mr Faulding joined the hunt for clues on Monday but left the village after three days of scouring several miles of the river.
Aerospace engineer Paul, 44, said he is “100% convinced” she is not in the water. He expressed gratitude to everyone who had worked on the search so far but said he does not want “any stone left unturned”.
Police have said a land search covering a 1km radius from Nicola’s last known location has been conducted following extensive enquiries.
Paul told the Mirror: “It’s time to widen the search because we don’t want any stone left unturned.
“We just want to know what happened to Nikki and if that means searching every house and outbuilding in the village and surrounding area then that’s what needs to be done.”
Speaking to Channel 5’s Dan Walker today, he said: “The divers and underwater rescue team and all that were in that river on the day, and thankfully found absolutely nothing, in the part where you’d have to presume is her last known location.
“Personally, I am 100% convinced it’s not the river, that’s my opinion.
"People don’t just vanish into thin air, it’s absolutely impossible. So something has happened. Find out what it is.
“There has to be a way to find out what happened. You cannot walk your dog down a river and just vanish into thin air. Something happened that day.”
Mortgage adviser Nicola was seen walking her spaniel Willow by several witnesses and had even joined a work call on the Teams app moments before she went missing. She was last seen at around 9.10am. Around 20 minutes later, her phone was found on a bench by the riverbank, with Willow nearby.
A dog lead and harness were also discovered on the ground by the river at the same time.
Police are still working on the assumption that she fell into the water and have moved their search 20 miles down the river.
The Coastguard and two police boats were seen sweeping the estuary near to Morecambe Bay on Thursday.
But Paul wants more resources placed on searching the land. He said: “It is the police’s job to find the evidence that will let us know what has happened and where she is.
“If the current strategy and lines of enquiry are not working, it’s time to do something different and expand out.
“What they’ve done so far is fantastic but my only aim is to find Nikki and as yet that’s not happened.
“There’s so much ground to cover that hasn’t been searched yet.”
Paul said it felt like the family was going through “unprecedented hell”. But he said: “That hope and that positivity in me is stronger than ever, and I’m never, ever going to let go.
“Nikki would never give up on us ever. She wouldn’t give up on anybody. And we’re not going to ever give up on her, we’re going to find her.”
Paul also spoke about the impact of Nicola’s disappearance on their two daughters, aged six and nine.
“All you want to do is make everything better for your children isn’t it, and I can’t do that,” he said.
“The only thing that I can do is tell them that everybody is looking for mummy.
“The best people in the world are looking for mummy, just to give them that level of hope, that they can understand, that everything that can be done to find mummy, is being done.”
The dad said he feels frustrated and angry at the situation, adding: “It just doesn’t feel real. I feel like I’m in the Truman show. Like, I honestly believe I’m going to wake up at any moment. How are we even in this? We are good people.”
In a separate interview, Paul also called for restraint from social media influencers and amateur sleuths who have flocked to the area to carry out their own investigations into Nicola’s disappearance.
He said: “We are so grateful for all the help the general public has given but now we are having social media influencers coming over and ruining life for people in the village and disrupting the work of police and experts. It is distracting and that needs to stop,” he appealed.
“I can’t understand why people think it’s helping. I’ve seen families turning up with children, visiting the bench where Nikki’s phone was found as if it’s a tourist attraction. They’re not there to help look for Nikki.
Paul issued a plea for anyone with any information to contact the police.
“Anyone who saw anything, no matter how insignificant they think it is, please get in touch with police.
“We just want Nikki home and to be a family again, our girls need their mummy home”.
He added: “I have to categorically say I cannot fault the police in any of this, they have been incredible, and the relationship that we have 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.”
