A friend of missing mum Nicola Bulley has launched a desperate appeal for evidence as she reveals a critical 'blind spot' in the investigation. Jill Peck highlighted a 'missing' section of road not accounted for in her disappearance and has begged anyone with dash-cam footage to come forward as they 'need answers'.
The 45-year-old mortgage advisor vanished while walking her dog in St Michaels on Wyre on January 27, the Mirror reports. Her phone was found discarded on a bench overlooking the water and her dog Willow was wandering around alone off the lead nearby, sparking a huge police search.
Having met several other dog walkers that morning, there is only a ten-minute window where officers have no knowledge of Nicola Bulley's movement on the morning she disappeared. The gap is between 9.10am when she was last seen and 9.20am when police believe her phone was put down on the bench where it was later found.
Detectives are maintaining their 'working hypothesis' that Ms Bully fell into the river but the lead of a special investigation team said his 'gut instinct' is there was a 'third party' involved. Police deployed underwater forensic experts Specialist Group International this week to conduct a more thorough search of the river Wyre.
However, Peter Faulding, chief executive of SGI, has now said his team are pulling out of the search after they were unable to locate the missing mum. The specialist diver said: "We are 100 percent confident that Nicola is not in that stretch of water."
Now Ms Peck has launched a further appeal as she desperately awaits some news about her friend's whereabouts. She told GB News: “We just need some answers, we need factual facts, we need evidence.
"Anyone out there that feels they may have dashcam footage, there's a section of road that we're missing, Garstang Road towards St Michaels."
Another one of Ms Bulley's friends, Heather Gibbons said 'nothing is making sense' in the case as she added online speculation is just causing more pain for the family.
She told the BBC: "I know that the family are massively appreciative of all the police have done [and] we feel we have got the best of the best on that water. Hopefully it will be a completion, one way or the other, and if they find nothing, then maybe it's time to start looking down other avenues.
"Up to a certain level, we understand it's human nature, it's natural for everyone to have speculation, because the truth is in this, nothing is making sense."
Firm chief Peter Faulding previously stated if his expert team's sonar didn't locate Nicola within an hour in the river, he was doubtful she was in there. He added he considered it 'impossible' she would have been dragged out into sea as he said a body would become 'snagged' within 500 metres of the entry point.
His team yesterday trawled the 'hot zone' of the river as well as several miles up and downstream but neither they nor police specialists found any trace of Nicola. Lancashire Police Superintendent Sally Riley said at a press briefing on Tuesday the force continued to rule out any "suspicious or criminal" activity in regards to the case.
She announced a team of 40 detectives are working on around 500 different lines of inquiry and are working to identify over 700 drivers who travelled through the village around the time Nicola vanished.
She said: "This is normal in a missing person inquiry and does not indicate that there is any suspicious element to this story. The inquiry team remains fully open-minded to any information that may indicate where Nicola is or what happened to her."
However, the police chief emphasised that detectives have not came across any evidence which suggests foul play.
She said: "Any criminal or suspicious element has been discarded. It is important to stress that any information that comes in that indicates otherwise is being checked out all the time.
"We are not closed in any way to any particular line of inquiry but all these extensive inquiries, however, have so far found anything of note."
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