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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Nick Harding & Abigail O'Leary & Hollie Bone

Nicola Bulley's desperate partner begs for more resources to find missing mum

Nicola Bulley's desperate partner has begged for more resources to find the missing mum.

Mum-of-two Nicola vanished while walking her dog by the river in St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire, on January 27.

Her phone was found on a bench by the waterside and had recently connected to a work call. Her dog Willow was running loose.

Police launched an extensive search of the area and said their "main working hypothesis" was that she fell in a river.

However, her partner Paul Ansell has said he is "100% convinced" Nicola is not in the water, and has called on police to give more resources and widen the search on land.

He said: “It is the police’s job to find the evidence that will let us know what has happened and where she is.

“If the current strategy and lines of enquiry are not working, it’s time to do something different and expand out.

Paul Ansell, the partner of Nicola Bulley, views the spot on the river Wyre with forensic expert Peter Faulding (Julian Hamilton/Daily Mirror)

“What they’ve done so far is fantastic but my only aim is to find Nikki and as yet that’s not happened.

“There’s so much ground to cover that hasn’t been searched yet.”

“It’s time to widen the search because we don’t want any stone left unturned.

“We just want to know what happened to Nikki and if that means searching every house and outbuilding in the village and surrounding area then that’s what needs to be done.”

Today, police were seen in a boat underneath the Shard Bridge - about seven and a half miles up away from where Nicola was last seen.

The bridge is about halfway to the estuary from the village. Images show specialists in a small boat travelling around and under the road crossing.

It comes as the search has already expanded to the Irish Sea.

Police have said their "main working hypothesis" was that she fell in the river but a body has not yet been found. However, they insist they are keeping an open mind.

Earlier today, Nicola's friends were seen lining the streets of the village where she was last seen in a vigil.

Yesterday, a concerned resident had come forward saying they spotted a suspicious-looking vehicle, believed to be a Renault, outside a barn in St on the day Nicola went missing.

Nicola Jane Bulley with her partner Paul Ansell (Facebook)

A second witness has also come forward with a similar description of a "shabby" red van.

It comes as detectives are looking into a mystery two-hour gap between the mum's disappearance and the first call to the police to report her missing.

Nicola was last seen at around 9.10am, and police were called until about 11am.

Lancashire Police have said they are working on the hypothesis that Nicola fell into the river, but no trace of the mum has been found after specialists have searched a mile-long stretch of the River Wyre.

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