Nicola Bulley: Dive expert’s video proves she didn’t fall into the river

The underwater search expert, brought in by Nicola Bulley’s family to help find the missing mother, says this video is “proof” she didn’t fall in the river.

Ms Bulley, 45, disappeared on January 27 after dropping her two daughters, aged six and nine, at school and then walking her springer spaniel Willow along the River Wyre in Lancashire.

Her phone was left on the bench near the river, still connected to a work call, and the dog’s leash and harness were found nearby.

Peter Faulding and his team from Rescue Specialist Group International searched the area around the bank, the “entry point” where police believe the mortgage adviser fell into the water.

But he said their three-day involvement ended on Wednesday after a “thorough and comprehensive search of the areas we have been commissioned to do by Lancashire Police” found “no sign of Nicola”.

On what he thinks happened to her, he said: “It’s a total mystery to me, I really don’t know.

‘In all the searches I’ve done, this is one that will stay with me.’

He added that he “can’t say either way” if she went in the water, but ruled out “the area where Nicola allegedly went in.”

Mr Faulding also released video footage taken of the river during the search, showing it moving slowly, meaning her body would have sunk “very quickly” and stayed nearby.

He also said the rocks on the shore, which would have been only 2 feet underwater when she disappeared, mean that if she had fallen, she could have simply “standed up.”

And he urged police to conduct a “broader land search” of outbuildings and sheds after his team’s sonar scans of the river found no evidence of her body in the river.

He said of the clip, which showed a log barely moving on the water, “The log stayed at that point for 20 minutes and it actually flipped and went up six feet and came back to the same spot.

“The river was a little higher that day – it was about a foot higher – but I would have been very surprised by my experience [if she was there] since a body usually gets to the bottom very quickly.

“If Nicola had slid down the bank she would have landed in about 2ft of water but on rocks and she could have gotten up.”

Mr Faulding was pictured attending the scene where Ms Bulley disappeared with her partner Paul Ansell.

He said that after their conversation, Paul believed “Nicola didn’t go into that river.”

The search expert said: “He is very upset and cried yesterday. He’s obviously very emotional.

“He was shocked at how flat the rocks were yesterday. He thought it was really deep there. If she went in, she would have landed on the rocks.

“The family thanked us for being here. They said, “You’ve given us confidence now,” and he believes Nicola hasn’t gone into that flow.

“We walked about a mile upstream, well up in the search area, and found that there was nothing up that stretch of the river.

“When you start putting the pieces of the puzzle together it’s very odd and it would take an extremely strong current on the day to get it over the weir so quickly before the police arrive.

“And if she had swam, she would have been seen by the public or ended up somewhere else — and there’s just no sign of that poor lady.”

Lancashire Police and Coastguard search teams, including divers, are now focusing on the 10 or so miles of river downstream of the bank where the River Wyre meets the sea at Morecambe Bay.

Superintendent Sally Riley of Lancashire Police described the search as “unprecedented”, with 40 detectives following 500 lines of inquiry, with thousands of pieces of information pouring in from the public.

And officers tried to trace dashcam footage of 700 drivers driving through the village on the morning Ms Bulley disappeared.

But Supt Riley ruled out any involvement by criminals or third parties and on Tuesday reiterated police belief Ms Bulley had fallen into the river, with her body yet to be found and police treating the incident as a missing person investigation.

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