Nicola Bulley, 45, was last seen walking her dog along the River Wyre on January 27
(Picture: PA Media)CCTV footage from the day before Nicola Bulley went missing has been requested from a local garage as the search for the Lancashire mother-of-two widens.
Police officers requested footage from St Michael’s Garage, which sits on the main road running through the village where the mortgage adviser disappeared on January 27.
Staff at the garage were asked to provide CCTV covering the 24 hours before the last sighting of Ms Bulley, and were asked to make statements of any activity seen that day, The Sun reports.
A witness has also told police about two men acting suspiciously outside the village church in St Michael’s on Wyre the day before she disappeared, according to The Sun.
The men were also seen around a nearby bridge on January 26.
The witness allegedly also told police that one of the men was seen in the vicinity of Ms Bulley’s usual dog-walking route on the morning she was last seen.
There are also alleged sightings of a red van near a log shed around the time of Ms Bulley’s disappearance.
Police officers were seen walking along a footpath in St Michael’s on Wyre as their search continued on Sunday.
The developments come after a complex search in and around the River Wyre, where the 45-year-old was last seen walking her dog Willow.
Police have also extended their search to Morecambe Bay amid fears the missing mum was washed out to sea.
Ms Bulley had dropped off her daughters, aged six and nine, at school and was on her usual walk when she disappeared, her phone – still connected to a work call – was found on a bench overlooking the river.
The police’s main working hypothesis that Ms Bulley fell into the river has been questioned by family and friends in recent days as they grow more desperate to find answers.
Her partner Paul Ansell said on Friday that he was “100 per cent convinced” she is not in the river, while friend Heather Gibbons said there is “no concrete evidence to it at all”.
Meanwhile former Met detective Simon Harding said witnesses may be deterred from coming forward after police went public with their theory.
He also said they should not have ruled out third party involvement unless every inch of the place where she went missing was covered by CCTV footage.
“If every possible route in and out of that area is not covered by CCTV — as is likely in the countryside — you simply cannot be sure that someone else is not involved,” he told the Sunday Times.
Mr Harding also urged the police to share any information they have with the public to stop speculation.
He added that police had clearly lost the trust of Ms Bulley’s family and friends who have categorically said they do not believe the river theory.
