Nicola Bulley's distressed partner has spoken about the 'unprecedented hell' that the missing mum's family are currently going through and says he is 'convinced' she didn't fall into the river.
Nicola, 45, was last seen walking her dog Willow after dropping her daughters off at school in the small village of St Michaels on Wyre, Lancashire on January 27. Police have confirmed that "main working hypothesis" was that she fell in a river but a body has not yet been found and today, her partner Paul Ansell says he is '100pc convinced' that this is not the case.
Speaking to presenter Dan Walker for part of the 75-minute special Channel 5 programme ‘Vanished: Where is Nicola Bulley' at 9pm, Paul said that he will 'never give up. "What we’re going through now is like unprecedented hell," he said.
READ MORE : Nicola Bulley's friends slam ghoulish conspiracy theorists who are visiting where she went missing
"But that hope and that positivity in me is stronger than ever, and I’m never, ever going to let go. Nicky would never give up on us ever.
"She wouldn’t give up on anybody. And we’re not gonna ever give up on her like, we’re going to find her.”
Lancashire Police launched a massive search and were seen combing the river bank, utilising diving teams, search dogs, drones and boats to no avail.
Follow live updates from the search for Nicola here
“Extensive searching, as you’re probably aware, has gone on in that river," he told Dan. "The fact that 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 would have to presume is her last known location.
"Personally, I am 100 per cent convinced it’s not the river, that’s my opinion. Because people don't just vanish into thin air, it's absolutely impossible. So something has happened.
"Something has happened. Find out what it is. Find out what it is.
"There has to be a way to find out what happened, there has to be. You cannot, you cannot walk your dog down a river and just vanish into thin air. Something happened that day, something.”
Paul refused to point fingers at the police, despite no news two weeks on. This afternoon (Friday February 10) the force have been trawling underneath a bridge more than seven miles from where the mortgage adviser was last seen. The bridge is about halfway to the estuary from the village.
Images show specialists in a small boat travelling around and under the road crossing. It comes as the search has already expanded to the Irish Sea. Police have discounted foul play and are treating the incident as a missing person enquiry, believing that Ms Bulley has fallen into the water.
Despite their 'main working hypothesis' of Nicola going in the river, Lancashire Police say they are keeping an open mind.
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