Detectives probe mystery gap between Nicola Bulley’s disappearance and first call to police
>
Detectives are investigating a two-hour gap between Nicola Bulley’s disappearance and the first call to police to report her missing, as three key CCTV blind spots are identified.
The 45-year-old mother of two went missing while walking her dog along the River Wyre near the village of St Michael’s, Lancashire, at around 9:10am on January 27.
However, the first call about her missing didn’t come in until 11 a.m., leaving a nearly two-hour window between her last sighting and the start of the search by officers.
Lancashire Police are working on the hypothesis that he slipped into the water and drowned, but despite meticulously combing a mile-long stretch of the river, no trace of the mortgage adviser has yet been found.
As the search enters its 15th day on Friday, police have moved out to sea to begin searching Morecambe Bay.
A map of the area showing the location of the broken camera, the path leading to Garstang Road which is not covered by CCTV (top right circle) and a riverside path leading from Wyreside Farm Caravan Park to the A586 (left circle )
The 45-year-old mother of two went missing while walking her dog along the River Wyre near the village of St Michael’s.
Two boats with specialized police teams have been searching the coast of Morecambe Bay, some 20 miles from where Nicola was last seen, and officials suggest that finding her “in the open sea becomes a possibility”.
The expanded search comes despite Peter Faulding, founder of expert search team Specialist Group International, saying it is “impossible” that Ms Bulley has reached the sea.
He added that, having used high-precision sonar equipment for three days to scan the river bed, he believed she was not in the water, raising the possibility that a “third party” was involved in the disappearance.
It also emerged yesterday that investigators may be trying to track down a ‘dilapidated’ red van parked near where the mother-of-two disappeared two weeks ago, after a witness twice reported it to police.
Meanwhile, three blind spots surrounding the area where Ms Bulley disappeared have been identified, after police admitted she may have left the area via a path not covered by cameras.
Lancashire Police are working on the assumption that he slipped into the water and drowned, but admitted that he may have left the area via a path not covered by CCTV cameras.
The road in question leads to Garstang Road, which runs through the village and is therefore a blind spot.
Officers have been trying to track down dash cam footage of 700 drivers who passed the road at the time of their disappearance.
Apart 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 the CCTV covering the other exit, near the Rowanwater mobile home site, is not working.
This camera would have covered the fields south of where Mrs. Bulley was last seen.
After reviewing other CCTV footage from the mobile home site, police are confident Nicola did not leave the field near the river across from Rowanwater.
Another blind spot is a riverside path that runs from Wyreside Farm Caravan Park to the A586.
It is also understood that a camera in a house near the road was not working at the time, but it did not cover the exit anyway.
A CCTV image of Ms Bulley wearing a long dark jacket and boots before taking her two young children to school.
Police officers walk past the bank where Ms. Bulley’s phone was found shortly after she went missing.
Lancashire Police are working on the assumption that he slipped into the water and drowned.
Mrs Bulley, a 45-year-old mother of two, went missing near the River Wyre on January 27.
Superintendent Sally Riley this week acknowledged the possibility that Ms Bulley left the area through a blind spot, but added that “all” criminal suspicions or suggestions had so far been ruled out.
It comes as police shifted the focus of their search out to sea, with trawlers in Morecambe Bay.
It also emerged that investigators may be trying to track down a ‘dilapidated’ red van parked near where the mother-of-two went missing two weeks ago, after a witness twice reported it to police.
Lancashire Police and a private diving company have carried out extensive searches along the River Wyre but have so far found no trace of the mortgage adviser.
Two boats with specialized police teams were seen searching the shoreline of Morecambe Bay some 20 miles from where Nicola was last seen yesterday, with police suggesting that finding her “in the open sea becomes a possibility”.
This is the area that the police have been searching for almost a fortnight, but there is no sign of Mrs. Bulley.
Paul Ansell, 44, pictured with diving expert Peter Faulding, who told the anxious father “she’s not here”, during an extensive third day of search along the River Wyre in Lancashire on Wednesday.
Mrs Bulley pictured with her dog Willow on a walk. She was walking her pet when she went missing two weeks ago.
Police tried to reassure the public yesterday that their search was still active after no officers or divers were seen at the immediate scene of her disappearance along the River Wyre.
After three days of intense activity with Mr. Faulding leading a search of a five-mile stretch of the river, it was eerily quiet with no police around.
Mr. Faulding and his International Task Force team ended their investigations after he stated that Ms. Bulley was not in the stretch of river where he had been searching using high-tech sonar.
Police divers had joined their search but were absent and Lancashire Police assured the public that the search is continuing along other stretches of the river that do not reach Morecombe Bay.
But Mr Faulding has previously said he doubts Ms Bulley’s body would have been carried so far out into the bay and into the Irish Sea if she had in fact drowned.