A close pal of missing Nicola Bulley has questioned a police theory that the mum may have fallen into a river while retrieving a toy for her dog.
Close friend Emma White has raised questions after it was suggested Nicola may have gone into the River Wyre in Lancashire.
She claims the theory is based on "limited information" and that Nicola had stopped taking dog Willow's tennis balls with her over a year ago.
Emma told SkyNews : "Willow used to love a tennis ball very much but it used to disturb their walks so they haven’t had a tennis ball since way into last year. Obviously she loved the tennis ball so she’d always be by you, pestering you for the ball - but it wasn’t a nice walk when the dog’s pestering - so there was definitely no ball."
The Mirror reports that authorities do not believe a third party was involved and have described the disappearance as "not suspicious but a tragic case of a missing person". Police have so far found Nicola's dog Willow, who was found running alone with her harness and lead on the floor and her phone, which was found on a bench still connected to a work conference call.
Supt Sally Riley, who is heading the search, said: "Our main working hypothesis is that Nicola has suddenly fallen into the river, that there's no third party or criminal involvement, and that this is not suspicious but a tragic case of a missing person. This is particularly important because speculation otherwise can be really distressing for the family and for Nicola's children."
Ms Riley continued: "I don't wish to speculate, in that we don't know, but it is possible as the dog was loose and off the lead. There may have been an issue with the dog that led her to the water's edge, she puts her phone down to go and deal with the dog momentarily, and Nicola may have fallen in.
"We assume the dog didn't get into the river, but we don't know why Nicola may have if she did."
Ms Riley told the MailOnline after the press conference: "I'm not aware of a dog ball being retrieved but it's possible that a ball could have rolled down the steep bank close to the edge of the water and Ms Bulley was bending down to pick it up."
Nicola's sister Louise Cunningham took to Facebook in an appeal for the public not to give up sharing information about Nikki after police said something "could have happened" with her dog that caused her to approach and potentially fall in the river.
Ms Cunningham wrote last night: "Please keep sharing my Nikki …Off the back of the latest Police media update, please can I add there is no evidence whatsoever that she has gone into the river, it’s just a theory.
"Everyone needs to keep an open mind as not all cctv and leads have been investigated fully, the police confirmed the case is far from over."
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