Exactly two weeks since Nicola Bulley went missing, there are still lots of unanswered questions about the mum-of-two's disappearance and what has happened to her. The 45-year-old was last seen on a riverside dog walk in St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire, on Friday, January 27.
The new appeal comes the day after Lancashire Police said the search had moved further downstream in an area of river which becomes tidal and then out towards the sea. Officers have been spotted in the water at Morecombe Bay.
Nicola - known as Nikki - left her daughters aged six and nine at school before heading to the towpath overlooking the River Wyre. She had been on a work conference call and her phone was still logged into that call when it was discovered on a bench along the towpath. Her microphone and camera had been turned off for the call.
Several underwater searches have been carried out in the river next to the bench where her phone was found, but no traces of Nicola have been found. Willow was also found near the bench, but was dry so investigators don't think the dog had been in the water. There appear to be no real clues as to what has happened. Lancashire Police have dismissed suggestions Ms Bulley was a victim of crime, but detectives said they remained "fully open-minded" to any information that indicates where she is or what happened to her.
But water search expert Peter Faulding has consistently raised doubts about the theory she fell into the river and an experienced former detective, Mark Williams-Thomas, has also cast doubt on the police theory. On Thursday, police said the search had moved further downstream and officers are reportedly examining a two-hour window between her going missing and the alarm being raised. Read more about that here.
The water search so far
Lancashire Police have been searching the River Wyre near where Nicola was last seen in St Michael's on Wyre since she disappeared but have not found any trace of her. A specialist water search team had also been working on the river with water search expert Peter Faulding saying a number of things don't add up — you can read about those here. On Wednesday night, Mr Faulding's specialist team pulled out of the search, saying they felt they had done all they could. Mr Faulding said his team "categorically" do not think the missing woman is in the section of the river where detectives believe she fell in.
He said: “We’ve done very thorough searches all the way down to the weir. Police divers have dived it three times, extremely thoroughly. That area is completely negative – there is no sign of Nicola in that area. The main focus will be the police investigation down the river, which leads out to the estuary. If Nicola was in that river I would have found her – I guarantee you that – and she’s not in that section of the river.”
He told reporters that he believes it is “unlikely” that she has been swept out to sea, adding: “My personal view is that I think it is a long way to go in a tidal river.”
He also says he filmed the River Wyre showing it to be slow-moving, meaning a body would have sunk “very quickly” and remained nearby and that the rocks by the bank, which would have been under just 2ft of water when Nicola went missing, mean she could have simply “stood up” if she’d fallen down. He said the video makes him believe Nicola didn't fall into the river.
On Thursday, police said the search had moved further downstream around 10 miles in an area of river which becomes tidal and then out towards the sea. Officers have been spotted in the water at Morecombe Bay. You can read that update here.
The 10 minutes not accounted for
Lancashire Police has said there are 10 minutes they cannot account for, between the last sighting of Nicola at 9.10am, and 9.20am, when Nicola's phone was found on a bench still connected to the work call she was on.
On Tuesday (February 7) police gave up update on timings:
- 8.26am Nicola left her home address with her children
- 8.40am Nicola dropped her children off at school
- 8.43am seen on the river path towards the gate and bench on lower field
- 8.47am someone who knows Nicola saw her with dog, and the two dogs briefly interacted
- 8.53am she sent email to her boss
- 8.59am she sent message to a friend
- 9.01am she logged onto a Teams call
- 9.10am last confirmed sighting of Nicola
- 9.20am Her phone was located on the bench
- 9.30am Teams call ended
9.33am Nicola's phone and dog were found by a witness
Why CCTV has not captured anything
There were images of Nicola shared from her own door bell camera that showed her packing up the car ready for the school run, but there is a lack of CCTV from the towpath area. The CCTV camera at a residential park on the upper field of the path had one camera not working. If it had been working it would likely have been able to pick up what happened around the bench.
Superintendent Sally Riley says: "Several exits of the riverside area have CCTV covering them or exits are locked and therefore couldn't have been passed through by Nicola. There's only a very small area onto Garstang Lane toward the A586 which is not covered by CCTV and that's why we're appealing today for dashcam footage or for people who may have been walking on Garstang Lane or driving in the area to come forward if they can."
Police are trying to find dashcam footage from 700 drivers who passed along the route at the time she disappeared. Former detective Mark Williams-Thomas, whose work helped exposed the crimes of Jimmy Savile, said: "From very early on police were certain Nicola Bulley did not leave the location. I have always questioned this, they could not be certain about this given every exit route is NOT covered by working CCTV . This plays into my worry of looking for evidence to support a hypothesis."
Police urging people to stay away from village
On Thursday, February 9, Lancashire Police issued an update on their search announcing that a dispersal order had been issued for the area of her disappearance and urged people to stay away. It comes after family friends said the area was becoming a "tourist spot" as people try to take the case into their own hands.
The force also confirmed that the search has now moved further downstream where the river meets the sea as search teams were seen on the coastline at Morecambe Bay. In an update on their website, Lancashire Police said: "We can confirm a dispersal order was issued around 8.40pm yesterday (Wednesday, February 8) in St Michael’s on Wyre. This followed reports of individuals – from outside the area of St Michael’s - filming on social media close to properties. The order will remain in place for 48 hours and gives officers the power to disperse anyone committing anti-social behaviour. Two dispersal notices were issued, and a number of other people were warned about their behaviour. We hope that will give people some reassurance that we will not tolerate criminality, including trespass and criminal damage.
"We are also aware of a number of grossly offensive comments being made on social media and elsewhere. We are looking into these and will not hesitate to take action where appropriate. Our investigation to the disappearance of Nicola Bulley is continuing and we continue to search areas of the River Wyre and surrounding area. People may have seen less police activity today than previously in the area of the river above the weir but that is not because we have stepped down our searches, it is because the focus of the search has moved further downstream into the area of the river which becomes tidal and then out towards the sea. Anyone with information which could assist our investigation should call us on 101 quoting log 0565 of January 30. For immediate sightings please call 999."
River is 'complex' to search
According to forensic search expert Peter Faulding, the part of the river where Nicola was last seen is not fast-moving. He has described it as 'black murky water' that can be difficult to see in.
He told the Blackpool Gazette: "It's not a fast tidal river. It's around two or three metres deep, but there are a lot of shallows."
Mr Faulding said he would have to check for any drains in the riverbed while re-checking all areas already probed by police., adding: '"You can search one day and the body can move down from another location so everything has got to be rechecked."
Superintendent Sally Riley, who is leading investigation, described the river as a "complex" area to search. She told a press conference on Tuesday: "It is not a still water it is a fast-flowing moving water which is tidal in parts. This makes it particularly complex. We have already discounted particular areas of the river but as they are tidal we have re-searched them to make sure nothing has been washed back into those search areas.
"We have six people searching the river banks every day, these are specially trained search officers, who are systematically, methodically searching the river bank and open ground."
The area near the bench
Lots of people had been questioning why the area near the bench where Nicola's phone had not been cordoned off. This, police say, is because they are still working on the theory that Nicola fell into the water.
Police reconfirmed on Tuesday that their belief remains that "Nicola sadly fell into the river, and this is a missing person enquiry." Supt Riley said: "We believe Nicola remained in the riverside area." She added that the search was being extended out to the sea due to the nature of the river.
Lancashire Police have dismissed suggestions Ms Bulley was a victim of crime, but detectives said they remained "fully open-minded" to any information that indicates where she is or what happened to her.
The two-hour gap after disappearance
Police investigating Nicola's disappearance are probing a two-hour gap between her going missing and the first call to police. The Daily Mail reports that three blind spots have been identified surrounding the area Ms Bulley went missing after police admitted she could have left the area via a path not covered by cameras.
Despite working under the hypothesis that she slipped into the water, police admitted that it is possible she left the area by one path not covered by CCTV cameras. The path in question leads to Garstang Road, which runs through the village, and is therefore a blind spot.
Officers have been attempting to trace dashcam footage from 700 drivers who passed along the route at the time of her disappearance. Aside from the river itself, there are only two other exits from the area, one of which is covered by CCTV.
Friends of the missing mother have claimed that CCTV covering the other exit, close to mobile home site Rowanwater, is not working. This camera would have covered the fields to the south of where Ms Bulley was last seen.
After reviewing other CCTV footage from within the mobile home site, police are confident that Nicola did not leave the field near the river via Rowanwater itself. Another blind spot is a riverside path leading from the Wyreside Farm Caravan Park through to the A586. A camera at a house close to the path is also understood to have not been working at the time, but did not cover the exit regardless. It has also emerged investigators could be trying to trace a 'tatty' red van parked near to where the mother-of-two vanished two weeks ago, after a witness reported it to police on two occasions.
Read next:
