Police insist Nicola Bulley diving expert ‘isn’t privy to their entire investigation’

On Feb 8, 2023

Lancashire Police has hit out at the forensics expert helping them with their investigation into the disappearance of missing mum Nicola Bulley.

Nicola, 45, was walking her dog when she went missing on Friday, January 27, near the River Wyre in Lancashire.

She had dropped her children off at school that morning before taking the family pup, Willow, on a walk.

The mum, whose phone was found at the scene of her disappearance and logged into a work conference on Teams, is believed to have approached the river.

Expert diving teams were called in by Lancashire Police on Sunday (February 5), run by forensics expert Peter Faulding and his Specialist Group International, to search the riverbed – but his team has now declared that they cannot find her in the river.

Peter Faulding has often questioned the official police line over the disappearance of Nicola Bulley
(Image: Julian Hamilton/Daily Mirror)

It is understood his team’s search has now ended.

But before being brought into the fold, Mr Faulding had criticised many aspects of the investigation – and still does.

He recently poured scorn on the theory that she could still be in the river.

He said: “It is not feasible that she could have drifted 15km, not in my experience and this type of tidal river.

“Things get washed in and washed out, it is very shallow – there is nowhere to go.”

Nicola’s family urged Lancashire Police to bring Peter Faulding into the investigation

This appears to have caused anger with Lancashire Police’s Superintendent Sally Riley, who clarified the expert essentially knows as much about the investigation as the British public does.

She told the Daily Mail: “Our search has not found Nicola in the river and then a re-search in parts by SGI has found the same.

“That does not mean that Nicola has not been in the river.

The search for Nicola Bulley continues
(Image: @5_News)

“In the light of other inquiries being discounted from the investigation so far, clearly our main belief is that Nicola did fall into the river.

“Clearly Mr Faulding isn’t included within all the investigation detail any more than the members of the public are that I’m briefing through these sorts of press conferences.”

The investigation continues.

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