Nicola Bulley was ‘shoved really hard’ if she’s in the river, insists forensic expert
If Nicola Bulley was in the river she would have been “shoved really hard” a forensic expert has claimed.
Peter Faulding led a private underwater search team as he joined the search for the mum-of-two last week, but left the village after three days of scouring several miles of the River Wyre.
He has now launched his own “low-key” search and claims he has spoken to Ms Bulley’s family about “deposition sites” – a term referring to a place where someone has been buried.
Yesterday, the diver said if she was in the river then she would have needed to have been “shoved really hard”.
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Julian Hamilton/Daily Mirror)
Mr Faulding told TalkTV : “If Nicola slipped down the bank she would end up with water to the top of her legs, if she went out into the middle it’s about 3.5m/4m deep.
“But the bench is quite a way back, so to actually get into the river you would have to be pushed very hard, or knocked out and shoved in the river.
“I mean the dog was dry here, so I don’t believe that she’s just slipped down the bank.”
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He also said Nicola would use her Fitbit to track daily walks with her dog, and then share the journeys on her Strava fitness app.
The forensic expert continued: “She was a very cautious lady and from talking to the family, she was a creature of habit.
“From Strava data, her family said she does not go near that river, she’s really cautious. She takes the same route every morning, and this is what doesn’t stack up.
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“None of this stacks up at all.”
The mortgage adviser, 45, has been missing since January 27 and was last seen walking her brown spaniel Willow near the River Wyre in St Michaels on the Wyre, Lancashire.
Yesterday, cops were seen searching at Wyreside Farm Caravan Park and last week they were seen scouring the River Wyre down to Morecambe Bay.
As the search for Nicola is in its third week, her partner Paul Ansell has repeatedly said he doesn’t believe she’s in the river.
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Nicola’s friends and family are desperate for answers and have refused to give up as they continue to appeal for anyone who may remember something to come forward.
It comes as Libby Squire’s mum Lisa has also shared a message of hope for Nicola’s family.
Libby, 21, disappeared on a night out in Hull and was dumped in a river by her killer.
She was found seven weeks later by the crew of a boat in the Humber Estuary.
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In a moving message to Nicola’s family through The Sun, Lisa said: “Please don’t give up hope. Do what you’re doing. Put one foot in front of the other and hope for a positive outcome.
“I know how it feels to have that hope every day, to wake up in the morning and think ‘today she’ll come home’, then get to the night-time and think ‘tomorrow, it will be tomorrow’.
“It’s so draining but keep hope that Nicola will be found.”
Lisa, 52, said also said the searches brought back the painful memories of the searches for her daughter in 2019.
She added that: “It’s the not knowing that’s so difficult.
“I remember saying to my husband Russell after two weeks ‘Libby’s not coming home’, then feeling really guilty thinking I’d given up on her.”