The partner of Nicola Bulley is certain that someone living close to him is responsible for her vanishing. Paul Ansell told Dan Walker in a Channel 5 interview that he believes the key to the mystery lies close to home.
Ms Bulley vanished while walking her springer spaniel dog Willow alongside the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre on January 27. 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, by local, it's a local area."
Mr Ansell said he and Ms Bulley regularly walked the path she disappeared from since they met 12 years ago. He said: "You see the same faces every single day, and on the very odd occasion when you see somebody that you know, you don't know. They stand out like a sore thumb.
"The fact that nothing's been seen or heard, I just truly believe that it's something in the village."
He went on to say he wants to keep “all options open” about her disappearance. He said: “We’ve always been very careful that we don’t want to say, ‘oh, we think it’s that’, and then push that when it might not be. The most obvious thing, of course has always been the river. It’s always been my gut instinct and her sisters, and family that, that isn’t the case. Extensive searching, as you know is probably well aware has gone on in that river.”
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Despite a huge search of the river and surrounding countryside by Lancashire Police, no trace of her has been found. Speaking about his partner, Mr Ansell went on: “She is fun. She is loving. If you’re friends with her, she’s the most loyal friend that you could ever have. With Nikki, what you see is what you get. There’s no hidden, nothing’s hidden. You know, it’s all. That’s, that’s her. And she is an exceptional mum and she absolutely adores our girls. And goes above and beyond.”
He added: “She’s just a pillar of strength to our family and without her, the hole is bigger than you can possibly imagine.”
