Paul Ansell has privately voiced his dissatisfaction with the police’s hunt for his missing partner Nicola Bulley, the diver searching for her has claimed.
The distraught engineer, 44, is not happy with the progress being made and has asked officers to widen their search for Nicola, after the 45-year-old mother of their two children went missing on January 27. It is also claimed he wanted the police to hold a joint press conference last week (they haven’t held one now for over a week), but they failed to respond to his request.
Forensic forensic search specialist and diver Peter Faulding is assisting the family and he told the Mail: “I think he’s struggling to get answers that he wants. He just wants to know where Nicola is.
“He vented his frustrations to the family liaison officers last week in front of me when I was there. There’s a feeling that there’s just a lack of imagination and willpower.
“Paul is just lost, really. He’s got no partner, the kids are missing their mum, and he’s absolutely in pieces.”
To add to Paul’s growing discontent, news has emerged that local anglers on the River Wyre, near to where Nicola disappeared, were not contacted by police until this week. Officers were told that no-one was finishing along the river that day, with one angler saying: “The only people that were on the river that day were dog walkers. I can guarantee you that.
“It sounds like they are trying to work out if anyone was fishing on the river that day and saw something, but nobody was.”
Officers have maintained their stance on the theory that Nicola fell into the river at St Michael’s on Wyre. And again this week, a police team could be seen trawling the waterway looking for the mortgage advisor.
There has also been a report of suspicious men in the area, with an alleged witness claiming two men were seen wearing “dark clothing” and “hoods or hats”, before and on the morning of Nicola’s disappearance.
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He told The Mirror the pair were trying to hide their faces and described their behaviour as “strange”. He said they were carrying fishing rods, but did not appear to have a bait or tackle box with them.
However, it was only following the news of Nicola’s disappearance that he decided to report what he had seen to police on January 29. Nine days later police contacted the witness to take his full account.
Nicola’s partner believes her keys to her Mercedes car could hold valuable clues as she had them in her possession when she went missing. He has even called the car firm to see if “they could be tracked”, according to close family friend Heather Gibbons.
“Paul has been clear about Nikki’s keys being missing from the get go,” she told the Mirror. “In the local searches he specifically asked people to keep their eyes open for them and even organised for people to go out with metal detectors.”
Thus far, the police have refused to reveal anything about the keys or whether this is why they are focusing on the river. And another local fisherman says if Nicola has fallen in then she may not be found for “months” as she will have been swept away out to sea by the undercurrents.
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