Nicola Bulley’s sister says there’s ‘no evidence whatsoever’ she fell into river

Louise Cunningham encouraged people to keep an open mind in a Facebook post (Picture: PA)

The sister of Nicola Bulley says there is ‘no evidence whatsoever’ that she fell into a river.

The missing mum vanished on January 27 and has been missing for more than a week.

Nicola had dropped off her daughters, aged six and nine, at the local school in the village before going for a walk near the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire with her dog Willow.

Police said yesterday that the main theory they are working around is that her death was a tragic accident and that she may have fallen into the body of water.

But Nicola’s sister Louise Cunningham encouraged the public to keep an open mind in a Facebook post last night.

She wrote: ‘Off the back of the latest police media update, please can I add there is no evidence whatsoever that she has gone into the river, it’s just a theory.

‘Everyone needs to keep an open mind as not all CCTV and leads have been investigated fully, the police confirmed the case is far from over.’

Louise Cunningham said the assumption Nicola fell in a river is ‘just a theory’

Police are still investigating how or why Nicola may have ended up in the water (Picture: Paul Greenwood/Shutterstock)

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Lancashire Police Superintendent Sally Riley told reporters their ‘main working hypothesis’ is that Nicola fell into the River Wyre and that ‘this is not suspicious, but a tragic case of a missing person’.

She gave an updated timeline of the mortgage advisor’s last known movements, saying she was seen on the river path at 8.43am after dropping her children at school.

The mother-of-two was then seen walking her springer spaniel Willow around the lower field a few minutes later at 8.47am, before emailing her boss at 8.53am and logging into a Teams call at 9.01am.

At 9.10am, she and Willow were spotted in the upper field and police believe her phone was on a bench while still connected to the Teams meeting at 9.20am.

A map of Nicola Bulley last know locations in St Michael’s-on-Wyre (Picture: Metro.co.uk)

The press conference came a matter of hours after Nicola’s partner Paul Ansell spoke to the press and compared her disappearance to ‘a dream’.

He told Sky News: ’It seems absolutely impossible. it’s like a dream, I can’t get my head around it.

‘I don’t really have anything to say other than what the family said yesterday, my whole focus is my two girls and staying as strong as I can for them.

‘I’m scared that if I put focus into anything else it’s going to take my focus off that.’

Paul added he ‘doesn’t know how he’s coping.’

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Louise Cunningham encouraged people to keep an open mind in a Facebook post.