A world-leading confined space rescue and forensic search specialist, Peter Faulding, brought in to aid in the search for missing Nicola Bulley has said the case is one of the most unusual disappearances he has ever encountered in his 25 year career in the field.
Peter Faulding has raised some seven factors into her disappearance that he believes "do not add up", factoring in the fact that if the search team do not find anything today (February 7) then the likelihood that a third party was involved increasingly cannot be ignored.
Another factor he brought up in an interview with TalkTV was that placing of a mobile phone on the riverside bench in St Michael's on Wyre in Lancashire could have been a "decoy".
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"Normally you would expect the divers to find them easily. The police have nothing to go on. All they have is a mobile phone at the moment and they said it could possibly be a decoy," Mr Faulding added.
"After 25 years of doing this kind of work, after hundreds of cases, I am well and truly baffled."
The case of Nicola Bulley's disappearance has gripped the nation after she was last seen eleven days ago, walking her dog Willow on the River Wyre in Lancashire. To aid in the increasingly desperate search, Mr Faulding provided advanced sonar equipment free-of-charge by way of his Surrey-based company, Specialist Group International (SGI) who arrived on the scene yesterday (February 6).
So far, no clues have been uncovered by SGI, but the search is scheduled to carry on as planned today, reports WalesOnline. Mr Faulding has expressed seven particular doubts about Lancashire Police's current working theory.
The bench has not been sealed off
Mr. Faulding expressed worries about the bench where the phone was discovered not being properly secured for police and forensic investigation. He fears that valuable information about the disappearance could have been tampered with or lost.
He commented: "People have been walking past the bench. There's no police tape up. This would normally be sealed off as a crime scene so potentially crime scene investigators can go in and see if there are any microfibres, evidence, slip marks down the bank etc and I don't believe that has actually happened here."
Nicola's dog, Willow, and why it was not more distressed
Much speculation has arisen on whether Nicola had entered the river to rescue her beloved dog, Willow, who had been found near the bench.
Reportedly, the dog was "not wearing her harness" but was completely dry. Mr Faulding told GB News earlier this week: "We dealt with a drowning a couple of years ago where a gentleman went into a river and Ripley, his dog, was screaming by the riverbank when we got there.. When we arrived it was howling, and literally pointing exactly where he was. He stayed with his owner."
No screams were heard
Mr. Faulding expressed his surprise that no one brought up the absence of water-absorbent clothing worn by Nicola, the lack of marks at the scene, and the absence of any screams being heard. Although police successfully found the witnesses they sought to talk to, they have yet to uncover any new details regarding the situation.
Nothing has been found yet
The authorities have indicated that they are exploring the possibility that Nicola entered the river. A team of specialists dedicated their Monday primarily to scouring a portion of the river below the bench, within the tidal zone.
Mr Faulding told BBC Breakfast: "On Tuesday, we are focusing on the area upstream from the weir (that is a bit further down the river) which is non-tidal and going about a mile upstream. This includes the area where the phone was found on the bench. I must state this area was searched on the day by police divers. These are very professional divers and they didn't find anything and that is the odd thing about this. That is what I can't get my head around. It is very strange."
The mobile phone on the bench
According to the forensic expert, the mobile phone found on the bench is the only hard piece of evidence the police possess, and has speculated that it might have been deliberately left there as a false lead. The phone was still connected to a work Teams call that Nicola appeared to be participating in, with both the camera and microphone switched off.
Mr Faulding said that police have so far searched the "immediate area" of the bench on two occasions, with another searched planned for today.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast this morning, he said: "If Nicola is not in that stretch of river today my view is that there is a third party involved and this was a decoy placed by the river. It could have been placed as a decoy there is not enough CCTV to cover particular areas here. The police are working hard in the background to cover everything."
He said police divers have already thoroughly searched that stretch of the river and wouldn't have missed anything. However, specialist equipment used by his team could help to "completely rule out anything".
Nicola "couldn't be" in another part of the river
After he was asked if it's possible that Ms Bulley could be in another stretch of the river, Faulding said: "Unless someone's put her in a different part of the river somewhere or she's fallen in somewhere.... It is a very short stretch. On a normal river we can scan ten miles a day for a body and locate it very quickly."
Surely a drowned body would have been found by now
On an appearance on Good Morning Britain (GMB) Mr Faulding said: "Bodies can get lodged in reeds and show up months later, the sonar won't go into the reeds. But then that's the idea of the divers and, as I said before, it was originally searched when she supposedly went in. He said police divers have already thoroughly searched that stretch of the river and wouldn't have missed anything. However, specialist equipment used by his team could help to "completely rule out anything".
He said: "Normally when we deal with drowning victims they go to the bottom and they will stay there for a while. The police divers have done a thorough search of that river twice and nothing was found. This is one of the most odd cases I've ever worked on. Underwater search - I'm a forensic diver as well - is a particularly difficult task. Generally, things aren't missed, they [police divers] have done it thoroughly. If anything is there, we will find it. A body will move after a time, but they searched that area and came up with nothing – that is what is weird here. We are baffled."
It is important to note that police often don't share all details of an investigation for investigative and operational reasons. Lancashire Police continue to appeal for witnesses and dashcam footage.
Anyone with information or footage is asked to call 101, quoting log 565 of January 30. For any immediate sightings, please call 999.
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