A close friend of missing dog walker Nicola Bulley broke down on live television as she joined a search that marked seven days since the mum-of-two disappeared. Emma White said that Friday was a "tough milestone" for all the family and friends.
She described how Nicola's friends were out in force with placards and banners hoping to raise awareness and gain some information about the 45-year-old's disappearance.
Nicola, who is known as Nikki, had been walking her dog Willow by the banks of the river in the Lancashire village of St Michaels on Wyre when she went missing around 9.10am
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Emma, who has known Nikki for 10 years, told BBC Breakfast: "Seven days on, we are just hoping that someone who might have passed last Friday, might remember that they saw something.
"We just need a glimmer of hope and some information."
Emma has been in close touch with Nikki's partner Paul and her family in the past seven days. When asked how they were baring up, she said: "Put yourself in their shoes. The journey they are going on is as Paul described 'a perpetual nightmare',
"They are the most closeknit family, and those poor girls asking questions. 'Where's mummy?' 'How is mummy?'. Even today, the little one. Daddy didn't quite do her hair right, and she told him 'Mummy does it this way'. Paul has got this underlying worry going on, the sadness, the heartache, but for those two little girls he has to be so strong."
Describing her friend, Emma said through tears: "Nikki is the most beautiful person. You have seen the pictures, she is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. She is the kindest soul. She is thoughtful, she is caring. Then you add Paul, and a little bit of magic and they created these two beautiful humans who just want to know where their mummy is.
"Our children are great friends and my little girl wrote the family a letter. They told the girls if they ever want any hugs or to talk. We are appealing today. We just need something. It is not making sense and that is why the community is out in force."
On Thursday, Nikki's parents Ernest and Dot appeared on TV with Nicola's sister, Louise Cunningham. The family said they're "stuck in a nightmare" after the mum-of-two "vanished into thin air".
Another friend has revealed Nikki texted a friend about meeting up the following week with her kids.
The friend told the Daily Express: “She booked a playdate, 8.57, she sent a text message to a friend whose mortgage she had just recently signed off on to arrange for the girls to go for tea this week.”
The friend said the message indicates that Nicola had no intention of going missing.
She said: “You wouldn’t have done that if you were going to get up and go missing."
Nicola is white, 5ft 3in, with light brown shoulder-length hair. She speaks with an Essex accent. She was last seen wearing a long black gilet jacket with a hood, black jeans and olive-green ankle wellies. Her hair was tied into a ponytail.
Anybody who has seen Nicola, or has information about where she might be, is asked to call 101, quoting log 565 of January 30. For immediate sightings please call 999.
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