Three crucial areas in Nicola Bulley disappearance are ‘CCTV blackspots’
Three crucial CCTV “blackspots” have been identified in the continuing search for missing mum Nicola Bulley.
Nicola, 45, went missing two weeks ago today on January 27 while walking her springer spaniel Willow by the river in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire.
Her phone was found on a bench next to the River Wyre. The dog was found running back and forth between that bench and a nearby gate.
READ MORE: Dog experts explain why Nicola Bulley’s spaniel was found ‘running back and forth’
Throughout the investigation, police have maintained that their “main working hypothesis” is that Nicola fell in the river despite having found nothing in there.
(Image: Lancashire Constabulary / SWNS.C)
However, investigators haven’t ruled out every other line of inquiry and previously said it was a remote “possibility” she left the area via the only path not covered by cameras.
New details have suggested three crucial areas around the river were not under CCTV surveillance at the time of her disappearance.
The most crucial of these is around a footpath that leads from the river to Garstang Road and into the village.
Police have appealed to 700 drivers passing by the location on the day for “every piece” of dashcam footage that “helps us build up a picture of movements on that morning”.
(Image: PA)
A second blind spot is said to be focussed on a riverside path going from Wyreside Farm Caravan Park to the nearby A586.
One of Nicola’s friends, Tilly Ann, has claimed another CCTV camera at the back of the caravan park was not functional at the time, bringing the total number of blackspots to three.
“There’s CCTV at the back of the caravan park. The only camera that isn’t working is the one that would have seen everything,” she wrote on Facebook.
Multiple diving searches of the river by police and outside specialists have not turned up any results.
Superintendent Sally Riley of Lancashire Police has repeatedly ruled out criminal or third-party involvement, and on Thursday (February 9) reiterated the police’s belief that Nicola had fallen into the river.
“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,” she said.
The North West Police Underwater Search & Marine Unit were meanwhile spotted searching the sea at Morecambe Bay, close to where the River Wyre meets the coast.
Officers have confirmed they are now concentrating on the mouth of the river and believe that finding Nicola in the sea after moving downstream has become “more of a possibility”.
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