Nicola Bulley search LIVE: Police focus on 10 missing minutes on hunt for missing mother

Police expressed concerns the missing mother-of-two may have fallen in the icy cold water on River Wyre while trying to retrieve her dog Willow's tennis ball. 

Specialist search crews have not recovered the ball - or anything of note - at this stage.

If Ms Bulley did fall into the water, she may have been weighed down by the heavy clothing she was wearing on the day she vanished.

Nicola's friend, Emma White said: 'Willow used to love a tennis ball very much but it used to disturb the walk so they haven't had a tennis ball since way into last year.

Obviously she loved the tennis ball so she would always be by you pesteriung for the ball so that wasn't a nice walk so there was definitely no ball.'

Lancashire Constabulary still have search teams trawling through the waterway near St Michael's-on-Wyre.

Nicola Bulley's friend, Emma White, told Sky News: 'When we are talking about a life we can't base it on a hypothesis - surely we need this factual evidence.

'That's what the family and all of us are holding on to - that we are sadly no further on than last Friday.

'We still have no evidence, and that's why we're out together in force.

'You don't base life on a hypothesis.'

Sky's Crime Correspondent Martin Brock said: 'They made it very clear that it was their main working hypothesis which suggests that that there are still other theories that they havent ruled out. 

'I think the superintednent did go that far to say that the its as though they have ruled out everything else and yes we talk about that through Emma the furstation I think it was probably stronger than that. 

'I think Emma did tell us that they were rather surpised that having heard that privately from the police the police then went pubic with and that they will stop looking for Nicola and the family clearly believe particularly because there is that window of ten minutes were they can't account for her movement. 

'They still believe that Nicola might be alive and there might be another explanation for her dissaparance in the absence of any hard facts or evidence that she has come to any harm.

'They will continue to cling to the hope that she will be found. 

 'The police are very focused on the theopry that Nicola went into the water but the family in the absense of the evidence want them to keep looking for her.'

Emma White told Sky News: All I know is that there was a significant influx of calls so they had to bring in another team to answer the calls. 

'So when you hear that news from the police you think OMG there has to be a glimmer there has to be something coming from that today to give a line of enquiry to go on. 

'So when the news bullet in came I thought of they mught have found something we dont know and we thank every one that did come forward.

'What I would say is we need to keep it to factual information as they could have recieved a hundred calls on that aren't relevant to the case.'

Nicola Bulley's family have warned there is 'no evidence whatsoever' that suggests the missing mother fell in the river, despite police confirming it's their lead theory.

Police expressed concerns the missing mother-of-two may have fallen in the icy cold water on River Wyre while trying to retrieve her dog Willow's tennis ball. 

Specialist search crews have not recovered the ball - or anything of note - at this stage.

If Ms Bulley did fall into the water, she may have been weighed down by the heavy clothing she was wearing on the day she vanished.

But her sister Louise Cunningham urged the public to keep an open mind in a social media post last night.

'Off the back of the latest police media update, please can I add there is no evidence whatsoever that she has gone into the river, it's just a theory,' she said.

'Everyone needs to keep an open mind as not all CCTV and leads have been investigated fully, the police confirmed the case is far from over.'

Nicola was seen by another dog walker at 9.10am - the last known sighting - and police traced telephony records of her mobile phone as it remained on a bench overlooking the river at 9.20am.

The device was found by a dog walker at around 9.35am, with Willow nearby.

Friends of the family said on Friday that Ms Bulley's daughters had been asking: 'Where's Mummy? How is Mummy?'

Her partner Paul Ansell, 44, said he would 'never lose hope' of finding her.

Police vowed to continue the search for Ms Bulley, to 'bring her home'.

They have urged the public to look out along the river for the items of clothing that Ms Bulley was last seen wearing.

This includes an ankle-length black quilted gilet jacket, a black Engelbert Strauss waist-length coat, tight-fitting black jeans, long green walking socks, ankle-length green Next wellies, a necklace and a pale blue Fitbit.

Multi-agency searches for missing mother-of-two Nicola Bulley have entered a ninth day, as her heartbroken friends and family - including two young daughters - hold on to hope for her return.

Search teams from Lancashire Constabulary are continuing to trawl the River Wyre near St Michael's, working on the hypothesis that the 45-year-old mortgage adviser, from nearby Inskip, could have fallen in.

Their search has been aided by specialists and divers from HM Coastguard, mountain rescue, and Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service - with sniffer dogs, drones, and police helicopters deployed.

Detectives are also working behind the scenes to analyse CCTV and dashcam videos, and members of the public with footage which could be useful have been urged to come forward.

Police believe Ms Bulley went missing in just 'a 10-minute window' while she was walking her dog, Willow, close to the River Wyre, after dropping off her daughters - aged six and nine - at school.

Ms Bulley had logged in to a Microsoft Teams call at 9.01am, which ended at 9.30am with her phone still connected to the call.

Comments 7

Share what you think