Police investigating the disappearance of missing mother-of-two Nicola Bulley have said their “main working hypothesis” is that she fell into the River Wyre and that “this is not suspicious but a tragic case of a missing person”.
The 45-year-old mum was last seen on Friday January 26 at around 9.20am while walking her dog Willow along the edge of the River Wyre in St Michael's, Lancashire. However, the spaniel was seen running free without her harness less than an hour later and Nicola's phone was found nearby a short time after.
Police dive teams and fire service boats have been deployed along a short stretch of the Wyre in a bid to determine what happened. Officers tasked with investigating the mortgage advisor's disappearance have maintained that the investigation is that of a missing person and that "third-party" involvement has not been suspected.
Lancashire Police has since doubled-down on this theory. Superintendent Sally Riley told reporters on Friday that Nicola may have vanished in a 10-minute window, and has asked the public to keep an eye out for potential signs of her along the river.
Supt Riley said: "We only have a 10-minute window in which we cannot account for Nicola's movements. The inquiry team has undertaken a number of dashcam, CCTV and ring doorbell footage.
"This has allowed us to eliminate any trace so far of Nicola having left the riverside, which is really important. We believe that Nicola was in the riverside area and remained at the riverside area.
"We remain open to any inquiries that might lead us to question that, but at this time we understand that she was by the river. Our main working hypothesis therefore is that Nicola has sadly fallen into the river, that there is no third party or criminal involvement and that this is not suspicious, but a tragic case of a missing person.
"This is particularly important because speculation otherwise can be really distressing for the family and for Nicola's children."
Descriptions of Nicola's clothing have been issued by the police, with members of the public asked to keep an eye out for traces of any articles that could pinpoint where she has gone. She was wearing an ankle-length black gilet jacket, a black Engelbert Strauss waist-length coat, tight black jeans, long green walking socks, ankle-length green Next wellingtons, a necklace and a pale blue Fitbit.
Walkers who stroll along the river path at St Michael's, or further downstream towards Morecambe Bay, have been asked to watch for any of these on their travels. However, Supt Riley has cautioned inexperienced members of the public against taking risks if they try to help.
She added: I would also appeal to the public to keep themselves safe in this inquiry. People going out at night in the darkness could fall into the river and face other hazards.
"Likewise, if they go out in boats on the river, please only do so if you've got experience in that."
The mum vanished after dropping off her daughters, aged six and nine, at school last Friday morning. She had been logged onto a Microsoft Teams work call at the time she was last seen, though had been on mute.
Her sister, Louise Cunningham, told Sky News: "Something has got to have been missed. Somebody must know something. People don't just vanish into thin air."
And her partner Paul Ansell told reporters at the scene: "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. We're never, ever going to lose hope, of course we're not, but it is as though she has vanished into thin air. It's just insane."
A potential witness, a dog walker in a red jacket, was traced following a police appeal on Thursday. Christine Bowman told the Mirror she had spoken to officers and "doesn't know anything".
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