Nicola Bulley latest: diver says police privately share his doubts
A diver who took part in the search for Nicola Bulley said police “call him and agree with him” regarding his doubts about the case. The mother of two has been missing for more than two weeks and the search continues.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Peter Faulding spoke about the difficult search for Nicola, who disappeared along the River Wyre on January 27th. She was walking her dog, Willow, at the time. Mr Faulding led the Specialist Group International (SGI) search team, which worked with Lancashire Police to travel miles across the river for three days last week, and said there was no sign of bulley.
Continue reading: Nicola Bulley: Eight things learned over the past few days about the disappearance of the mother-of-two
Faulding said: “It wasn’t very fast on the river that day. I’ve spent a lot of time with the family and they said she’s being so careful, did the same route every day, didn’t go near the river and her fitbit shows she doesn’t go near the river. It would have to be pushed really hard to be thrown out into the middle of the river.”
Police said officers were “open minded” while continuing to seek information on Nicola’s whereabouts. The force are still searching the river towards the sea at Morecambe Bay with the idea that the 45-year-old from Inskip may have fallen in.
Peter continued, “There are a lot of strange things here. If it isn’t found, I would say something is wrong. Cops called and said they agree with me, that’s weird.” The dive expert searched the river for Nicola but couldn’t find anything.
“It’s a negative search, no sign of Nicola,” he told the PA news agency at the time. He later told the Daily Mail: “I think the worst mistake the police made was to say early on that they were in flux instead of saying let’s keep the investigation open.
“This is a lady who knew the area well, she was slim and fit and if she had fallen she could have grabbed the shore.”
Faulding adds that he has been in communication with Nicola’s family and has begun searching “deposit sites” to look for places where she may be buried.
He told the Express: “I speak to family and obviously have a lot of experience in finding buried bodies. We have to consider all options here, there was this report of suspicious people hanging around.
“I’ve been candid with Paul and Heather the other day because we need to consider possible dump sites, we don’t know. I’m not saying the police won’t do that, and what I don’t want to do is interfere with the police action.
“My (examination) will be cautious, just looking for possible dumping sites.”
Yesterday North Wales Live reported that police were seen walking to a caravan site near where she went missing. The trailer park is believed to be one of several CCTV “blind spots” near where Nicola disappeared.
Nicola’s partner Paul Ansell said while he wanted to keep “all options” open about her disappearance, he had a “gut feeling” that she wasn’t moving.
The police have ruled out third-party negligence and are treating the incident as a missing person investigation. Meanwhile, a witness reportedly told police that he saw two men suspiciously near Nicolas Hundeweg the day before she disappeared.
The suspected couple were reportedly spotted outside a local church on January 26. It is unclear if police, who reportedly collected surveillance cameras on the same day, are linked to these claims.
A worker at St Michael’s garage told The Sun on Sunday: “Two smartly dressed officers followed, a man and a woman. They wanted the CCTV from the day before Nicolas disappeared and statements about all the activities we had seen that day.
“These officers were different from those in uniform, they seemed very self-confident.”
Over the weekend, yellow tapes with handwritten messages were left on a bridge near where Nicola disappeared. Ribbons were tied to a footbridge over the River Wyre with messages such as ‘We need you home Nicola’, ‘Pray for your safe return’ and ‘I love you’.
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