Private specialist divers join search for Nicola Bulley
The search for missing dog walker Nicola Bulley continues today – with a group of private divers set to join a police search.
Bulley, 45, was last seen walking next to the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre in Lancashire 10 days ago.
Police believe Ms Buley likely fell into the river trying to retrieve a ball for her dog – but her family and friends dispute this, saying she didn’t take the ball out on walks with the dog and she was a strong swimmer.
The dog was also dry when found, Ms Bulley’s phone was on a bench still connected to a conference call.
Divers have been scouring the river, while volunteers have joined the search along with mountain rescue, sniffer dogs, drones and helicopters, but no trace of her has been found.
On Monday morning, a team of divers from the private Specialist Group International (SGI) will join the search.
The firm’s founder, Peter Faulding, said he had offered the team’s services free of charge to Lancashire Police.
“We’re bringing extra divers, and we also bring hi-tech sonar,” he said.
“It gives us double the resources so we can cover an extremely large area.”
Lancashire Police said SGI’s offer to assist in the search was “taken up after speaking with Nicola’s family”, adding: “We continue to lead an extensive and far-reaching multi-agency search using a wide range of specialist equipment and resources.”
Nicola Bulley missing
On Sunday, images of Nicola Bulley on the day she went missing were released. The images shared were from a doorbell camera and shows her loading her car outside her home on 27 January before driving her two kids to school and taking the dog for a walk alongside the river.
She is seen on the footage wearing a long dark coat, leggings and ankle boots with her hair tied in a ponytail.
She was last seen by another dog walker at about 09:10 GMT.
Her dog and phone – still connected to the Teams calls – were found on a bench about 25 minutes later.
Supt Sally Riley, from Lancashire Police, said they were “as sure as we can be that Nicola has not left the area where she was last seen and that very sadly for some reason she has fallen into the water”.
She said there was no evidence of “anything untoward” happening to her or any third-party involvement.
