The partner of the missing woman Nicola Bulley has described his family’s “agony” after a body was found more than three weeks after she disappeared.
Paul Ansell told Sky News he had “no words right now, just agony” after walkers found a body in the River Wyre less than a mile from where the mother-of-two was last seen. He added: “We’re all together, we have to be strong.”
Police are yet to formally identify the body but said Bulley’s family had been informed.
The 45-year-old mortgage adviser has been missing since dropping off her daughters, aged nine and six, at school and taking the family’s dog, Willow, for its usual riverside walk near the village of St Michael’s on Wyre on 27 January.
Lancashire constabulary said they had received a call at 11.36am on Sunday about a body in the River Wyre, close to Rawcliffe Road, within a mile of where Bulley was last seen.
“An underwater search team and specialist officers have subsequently attended the scene, entered the water, and have sadly recovered a body. No formal identification has yet been carried out, so we are unable to say whether this is Nicola Bulley at this time,” Lancashire police said in a statement.
“Procedures to identify the body are ongoing. We are currently treating the death as unexplained. Nicola’s family have been informed of developments and our thoughts are with them at this most difficult of times. We ask that their privacy is respected.”
Lancashire police have been heavily criticised for releasing a statement referring to Bulley’s struggles with alcohol and the perimenopause.
It was these “vulnerabilities”, coupled with the numerous sightings before she went missing, which led detectives to believe that she was more likely to have fallen into the river than have been harmed by a third party.
A diving specialist who joined the high-profile search said his team had received “unfair criticism” since the discovery of a body by two walkers shortly before midday on Sunday.
Peter Faulding, the chief executive of Specialist Group International, who led an underwater search team for three days, said his team “thoroughly search the riverbed and can categorically confirm that Nicola was not laying on the riverbed on the days that we searched.”.
He added that his team had searched the stretch of river where the body was found.
“The police underwater search teams and land search teams were searching for three full weeks and were also unable to find Nicola. Unfortunately it was a member of the public that made a grim discovery, unconfirmed as yet to be Nicola.
“Sadly, the discovery was not found in the river but in the reeds at the side of the river which was not part of our remit as the side scan sonar does not penetrate reeds above or below the water.
“A riverbank and wade search would be the only way to search this area and we were not involved or tasked with that search. The difference between these two search areas has caused a lot of confusion and unfair criticism towards myself and my team at Specialist Group International (SGI).
“My previous comments saying that if Nicola was in the river, I would find her, still stand. My team and I at SGI did all we could to assist this family with only our best intentions. I am sure I can say this of everyone who has been involved in this difficult search.”
Faulding, who is a registered search expert with the National Crime Agency, said he had not volunteered his services “for any limelight or publicity” and did it with the best intentions. He said his thoughts were with Bulley’s family and friends.
