The partner of missing dog walker Nicola Bulley says he is focusing on staying strong for their two daughters. Speaking near the scene where the mother-of-two was last seen, Paul Ansell told broadcasters: “My whole focus is my two girls, just staying as strong as I can for them.
“I’m scared that if I put focus into anything else it’s going to take my focus off that. Just hoping to goodness that anything comes out from the interview yesterday no matter how tiny.”
Mr Ansell said he “cannot get his head around” her disappearance. Speaking to broadcasters near the scene of where the Lancashire woman was last seen, he said: “Every single scenario comes to a brick wall. Every single one of them.
“All we are doing is sitting there going round and round and round through each scenario.”
He added he was focusing on looking after their two daughters and “didn’t want to think” about how he was coping. On the support from the community, Mr Ansell added: “It’s the only thing that we can take (from the situation) is that the level of support is out of this world.
“It gives us a great amount of comfort knowing that that’s going on, we don’t have anything else. We’re never going to lose hope, but it is as though she has vanished into thin air. It’s just insane.”
A devastated friend of the missing mum has spoken of her “heartache” on the seventh day of her disappearance, saying: “We just all want Nicki back.” Emma White hoped someone could shed light on the mum-of-two whereabouts, who was last seen in St Michael's on Wyre, Lancs., at around 9.15 am on Friday.
She also revealed that Nicola’s family were trying to be “strong” for her worried little girls while adding that the story of her disappearance had “touched the nation”. Emma said the local community was continuing to search for Nicola today, close to where her phone and dog were last spotted, on the banks of the River Wye.
Yesterday, Lancashire Police revealed a timeline of events cornering her disappearance, saying her belongings were found on a bench at 9.35 am. Speaking to Good Morning Britain, Emma said she hadn’t given up hope while pleading with those that might know anything to get in contact with the police.
She said: “I think we’ve touched the nation here, haven’t we? She’s a daughter, a mother, a partner, a sister, a great friend, and we just all want Nicki back. So if anybody has anything that they can give the police, anything, just share it.
“Seven days on, and it is such a tough milestone today, believe me. We’re all finding it tough today, but yes, seven days.
“We are out today in force, the community’s come together once again. We’ve got banners printed, placards of Nicki, we’ve got big wavey men. The police, everybody’s trying to find that missing piece of the jigsaw.
“Today, commuters might come passed that perhaps haven’t been passed this week, for some reason haven’t seen all the media footage around Nicki."
Emma said it was still “surreal” that her friend had logged into a work conference call before suddenly disappearing just minutes later. And she said Nicola’s daughters continue to ask where their mummy was as her friends and family made desperate attempts to find her.
She said: “[It’s] so surreal, you’ve got this feeling of great sadness, you’ve got heartache, mixed in there with a whole load of hope, and you just can’t explain the feeling that’s going on. And then we have the two most beautiful little girls out there asking where’s their mummy, asking all these questions. We can’t give them answers.
“And as a family, oh gosh, they’re being so strong for these little girls. They know mummy’s missing. Today, apparently, the hair wasn’t quite right from one of the little girls, because that’s not the way mummy does it.”
Yesterday, Lancashire police said they had located a woman, pictured on CCTV around the time of Nicola’s disappearance, who they wanted to speak to. Nicola is white, 5ft 3ins tall, with light brown shoulder-length hair. She speaks with an Essex accent.
She was last seen wearing a long black gilet jacket with a hood, black jeans and olive-green ankle wellies. Her hair was tied into a ponytail.
The timeline of events in the morning that Nicola went missing is as follows:
9.01am – She logged into a Teams call
9.10am (approximately) – A witness – somebody who knows Nicola – saw her on the upper field walking her dog, Willow. Work is ongoing today to establish exactly what time this was.
9.30am – The Teams call ended but Nicola stayed logged on.
9.35am (approximately) – Nicola’s mobile phone and Willow were found at a bench by the river by another dog-walker.
