A forensic expert has claimed that if Nicola Bulley was in the river then she would had to have been "shoved really hard".
Peter Faulding, who led a private underwater search team as he joined the search for the mum-of-two last week, left the village following three days of searching several miles of the River Wyre, where it was thought Bulley may be.
However, Faulding has now launched his own search operation which he has called “low-key” and has claimed to have spoken to Bulley’s family about the possibility of "deposition sites". This is a place where someone has been buried.
On January 27 Bulley, a 45-year-old mortgage adviser, vanished while taking her springer spaniel Willow along a river towpath in St Michaels on Wyre. Initally, foul play was ruled out by police, who believed she fell into the River Wyre, near where her phone was found.
Speaking on TalkTV on Monday, Faulding said that if she was in the river, then she would have needed to have been "shoved really hard".
"If Nicola slipped down the bank she would end up with water to the top of her legs, if she went out into the middle it's about 3.5m/4m deep," Faulding said.
"But the bench is quite a way back, so to actually get into the river you would have to be pushed very hard, or knocked out and shoved in the river.
"I mean the dog was dry here, so I don't believe that she's just slipped down the bank."
Furthermore, he added that Nicola would often use her Fitbit that would help track daily walks with her dog before sharing them on her Strava fitness app, Faulding believes this shows she did not go near the river as she was a "creature of habit".
Faulding said: "She was a very cautious lady and from talking to the family, she was a creature of habit.
"From Strava data, her family said she does not go near that river, she's really cautious. She takes the same route every morning, and this is what doesn't stack up. None of this stacks up at all."
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