10 February 2023 , 08:40
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Detectives are looking into a mystery two-hour gap between mum Nicola Bulley's disappearance and the first call to police to report her missing, as the search for her enters its 14th day.
The mortgage adviser, 45, was last seen walking her dog Willow at about 9.10am on January 27, shortly after dropping her children off at school in St Michaels on Wyre, Lancashire.
However, the first call to the police didn't come until about 11am, leaving almost two hours between her last sighting and the officers starting their search.
Lancashire Police have said they are working on the hypothesis that Nicola fell into the river, but no trace of the mum has been found after specialists have searched a mile-long stretch of the River Wyre.
Specialist Group International chief Peter Faulding said he is "100 per cent" sure Nicola is not in the stretch of river initially suspected, and his job is done.
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Nicola Bulley hasn't been seen since January 27 (PA)Police have been forced to warn members of the public from taking law into their own hands when getting involved in the search, with a group last night understood to have been given a dispersal order.
Yesterday, the search moved to Morecambe Bay as two boats with specialist teams were seen in the sea.
It comes as Nicola's pal Emma White described the ongoing search as "torture" while appealing to anyone who may have seen something to come forward.
She said a campaign highlighting her disappearance a fortnight ago will be looking to “jog” people’s memory about the day Nicola went missing.
A lifeboat sweeps the River Wyre multiple times where it meets the estuary of Morecambe Bay (Julian Hamilton/Daily Mirror)Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she said: “It is two weeks today.
“The local community are coming out to raise that profile, we’re trying to jog anybody’s memory. Dashcam footage of Garstang Road, which is just outside of the village of St Michael’s on Wyre, just by the bridge that you go over.
“It is quite a key part of the village so people would remember going over it.
“Did they see anything? We’re out with banners, we’ve got placards of Nikki’s face, we’ve got a moving eight-foot LED board with her face on it with the message ‘Bring Nikki home’.
Paul Ansell, the partner of Nicola Bulley, views the spot on the river Wyre with forensic expert Peter Faulding (Julian Hamilton/Daily Mirror)“We just need Nikki home for her two beautiful little girls who need their mummy.”
There are at least three CCTV blind spots in the area where Nicola was last seen, raising the possibility that she could have left the area.
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One spot is a path that is not covered by security cameras. It leads to Garstang Road which runs through the village.
It comes police are trying to get dashcam footage from about 700 vehicles that they have identified as passing along the main road through the village at the time Nicola vanished.
This is the spot where Nicola's phone was found (PA)Another possible blindspot is a riverside path leading from the Wyreside Farm Caravan Park through to the A586.
A camera at a house is understood to have not been working at the time, but it still doesn't cover the exit.
Friends of Nicola have also claimed the CCTV covering one of the two exits from the river near the mobile home site Rowanwater, is not working.
Police officers searching for Nicola may be tracking a "tatty-looking" red van which a witness said was parked close to the spot she disappeared.
This is one of the CCTV cameras that are understood to not be working (Julian Hamilton/Daily Mirror)Former Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Inspector Peter Kirkham has put forward seven key questions he believes need to be answered by the Lancashire Police enquiry team.
Anyone with information which could assist our investigation should call Lancashire Police on 101 quoting log 0565 of January 30th. For immediate sightings please call 999.