A specialist involved in the search for missing Nicola Bulley has explained in detail how his strategy would have differed if police had made him aware of her health issues. Peter Faulding has also changed his views on what could have happened to Nicola since new information was shared by Lancashire Police yesterday (Wednesday February 15).
He now believes there is a greater chance that the mum-of-two was swept out to sea or simply wandered off. The 45-year-old went missing while walking her dog along the River Wyre in Lancashire on January 27.
Mr Faulding's Specialist Group International was brought in to help assist with the search by Nicola's family 10 days after she vanished. His team spent three days scouring a stretch of water close to where the missing woman's phone was discovered on a bench, with police investigators allegedly working on the theory she had tumbled into the water by accident and was of sound mind.
READ MORE: Police say missing mum Nicola Bulley had 'significant alcohol issues'
However, Mr Faulding told The Mirror he was just as surprised as anyone when Lancashire Police revealed Nicola had problems. The force said Nicola had experienced "significant" issues with alcohol in the past prompted by struggles with the menopause and they had recently resurfaced.
Just 17 days before she vanished, police had been to her address in Inskip following reports of concerns for her welfare. Mr Faulding said he was told none of this when he arrived at the scene despite being briefed each day.
He criticised the decision to release the sensitive information publicly, reports The Mirror.
"From my point of view… this information should never have been made public this afternoon at all. It’s not fair," Mr Faulding said.
However, he insisted that he and his search team should have been told - because they would have conducted their search operation very differently.
"If we were given that information on the search, she is a vulnerable 'misper', which is normal for me to get that information, and she’s had alcohol issues etcetera, I’m not going to tell you.
"I would normally be given that information to make my job easier and deploy the appropriate resources to do that search," he explained.
Mr Faulding revealed that if he knew was looking for a person "significant issues with alcohol", he and his team would be "looking for other evidence". He said he would be "looking for things like whisky bottles".
And he described the phone being left on the bench as a possible red herring because if Nicola was disoriented she could have wandered further upstream and entered the water there. And if she'd jumped in the river, rather than slipped and fallen in, she would have been more likely to have been swept out to sea.
Giving further details about what he would have done differently if the police had shared the "crucial" information with him, he said: "We would have extended our search even further upstream. Just because you’ve got a phone there, that doesn’t mean you’ve got an entry point."
"They might jump in and swim and go 'oh no, I don’t want to do this'. So they start paddling and go downstream.
"If they drown, just fall in and drown, they tend to go straight down, they don’t drift. Unless it’s flood water and it wasn’t flood water on the day."
The underwater forensics expert went on to question if there is other information being withheld by the police. "Do they know something else again that they are not telling us?" he mused. "Is there another snippet of information here that actually we don’t know?"
Since leaving the search last Wednesday, Mr Faulding has offered to return and use his expertise for a land search, but said he hasn't heard from the police. He said: "My offer is open to Lancashire Police but I’ve had no communication with Lancs Police since we left.
"Our phone has been quiet. I’m not ringing them because I don’t want to interfere but we have had no contact at all."
"We left the scene, that was job done. We did what we’d been tasked with," he added.
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