The partner of missing Nicola Bulley has said her children desperately need her back home as he urged anyone with information to get in touch with the police.
Paul Ansell thanked the wider community for their support in searching for the 45-year-old mum who disappeared on a dog walk in St Michaels on Wyre on January 27.
Nicola's springer spaniel Willow was discovered wandering along the route near a bench where her phone had been left, overlooking the water
In a new statement released through Lancashire Police 10 days after Nicola's disappearance, Paul said: "It's been 10 days now since Nicola went missing and I have two little girls who miss their mummy desperately and who need her back.
"This has been such a tough time for the girls especially but also for me and all of Nicola's family and friends, as well as the wider community and I want to thank them for their love and support.
"We are also really grateful to Peter and his team from SGI for coming up and helping support the work of Lancashire Police as they continue their investigation.
"If anyone has any information which could help find Nicola, I urge them to get in touch with the police and help us provide the answers we all so badly need."
Earlier today, the head of an expert underwater forensics team drafted into the search said his sonar will likely find Nicola "immediately" if she drowned in the River Wyre.
Peter Faulding, founder of Surrey-based Specialist Group International, usually charges around £4,000 a day for a ‘top of the market’ 18,000khz side scan sonar but he has offered his services to Lancashire Police for free.
The sonar was expected to be launched on Monday morning.
Speaking to the Mirror, Peter said: “If Nicola is in there, we will find her. If she’s there, our sonar will pick her up straight away.
“I will see a body on the bottom. We are dealing with about 10 drownings every summer. We always locate within the hour. It’s that quick, it’s that good.
“Nicola wouldn’t have gone far if she was in this river because it’s got shallows and she would get lodged. There’s no way she would have gone out to the estuary.
"The river’s not in flood, it’s benign.”
He added: "She wouldn’t have been dragged down, no way.
"There is apparently quite a deep pool in the middle there.
"She wouldn’t have been swept away, the clothing she was wearing, it wasn’t heavy wool so it wouldn’t absorb water so quickly as normal clothing."
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