Nicola Bulley's partner has spoken out in an emotional interview on Channel 5. In the programme, 'Vanished: Where is Nicola Bulley?', Paul Ansell revealed that he '100% knows' the missing mum is not in the river.
Nicola vanished on January 27 after dropping off her two children at school in Lancashire, before taking family dog Willow for a walk on a nearby trail. The investigation into her whereabouts is not entering its third week with her boyfriend speaking in depth regarding a "hellish" 14 days.
The 75-minute special programme hit TV screens last night, during which the father spoke to Dan Walker regarding the case. Mr Ansell explained to the TV presenter why he hasn't been able to avoid warped social media conspiracy theorists - despite already being cleared by police.
The Mirror reports that Mr Ansell also revealed how he is trying to keep hid kids' spirits high but can't give them the answers they desperately want. He also believes a local could be behind the disappearance of the missing mother of two.
Here's what we learned from the interview regarding Nicola's disappearance:
Nicola 'didn't fall into the river'
Mr Ansell says he '100% knows' his partner is not in the river. After listening to the experts, he says he is certain she didn't enter the water.
Mr Ansell said: “Extensive searching, as you’re probably aware, has gone on in that river. 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. "
It has to be a 'local'
One of the striking take-aways from the interview was that the father believes a local person could be responsible for her disappearance. The 45-year-old was last seen walking her dog Willow after dropping her daughters off at school in the village of St Michaels on Wyre.
The dad says he fears someone in the area could be behind it. Mr Ansell said: "People don't just vanish into thin air.
"It's absolutely impossible. So something has happened.
"Whatever has happened, in my eyes, has to be somebody who knows the local area. You would only know that area, it's a local area.
"You see the same faces every single day, and on the very odd occasion when you see somebody that you don't know, they stand out like a sore thumb."
How he comforted traumatised kids
The dad says it is impossible to shield his young daughters from what is going on with the case. He claims that the best thing he can do is to reassure them the best people in the world are hunting for their mum.
Mr Ansell said: "It is impossible. As any parent knows, all you want to do this is make everything better for your children, isn’t it?
"Whenever they’re worried or they are scared or anything like that you just you want to make it better for them and I can't. I find that that’s the best way of doing it so reassure them as much as I can, to distract them."
"The only thing that I can do is tell them that everybody is looking for mummy.
"The best people like in the world are looking for mummy, just to give them that you know that that level of hope that they can understand that everything that can be done is being done."
He was looking forward to an hour of peace
Mr Ansell says he was was 'looking forward to an hour of peace' after his children headed off to school on the day Nicola vanished.
He said: "So when Nikki takes the girls to school, I then know that I've got like an hour to myself on that morning when she takes them. So I always quite look forward to that.
"I wave them off and then I go in the house, I put the kettle on and make a cup of tea, and I think right I’ve got an hour. You know any parent, no matter who you are, you do look forward to that little bit of peace don’t you.
"I just went in the house, put the kettle on, made a cup of tea, went into the living room, and thought I’ve got on an hour now to sort of chill and get myself ready for the day."
Is her phone a red herring?
The father believes the discovery of her phone on a bench could be just a 'decoy'. Nicola'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. Mr Ansell 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."
Biting back at trolls
Paul has hit back trolls on social media who accuse him of having something to do with Nicola’s disappearance. Rumours about Nicola's disappearance have circulated on social media since news first broke.
Police say Mr Ansell was cleared of any involvement immediately. However, despite this rumours have still continued and Paul has now cleared the air on what he thinks of those who blame him.
Dan asked: “There’s been a lot of publicity around Nikki’s disappearance and I suppose you are one of those stories that is very much talked about on social media.
“I don’t know whether you’ve read the stories, accusations, all the theories that are out there. Does that upset you or are you happy that people are talking about it, trying to find a solution?"
Mr Ansell replied: “It would be upsetting but only if I let myself read it all. Don’t get me wrong, I have seen some stuff.
"Most people have been amazing, you're always gonna get that 2% of people that for whatever reason say and do not very nice things but I don’t want to give any energy to that. My energy is just finding Nikki.
"I read one that said the police need to look at the partner and I was sort of like, yeah, that’s the first thing that they did. Of course it is. I knew that that would happen on the first day, I expected that."
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