Nicola Bulley: Police find witness in search for missing mum

Detectives searching for a missing mum who vanished on a dog walk want to talk to a woman who was seen on CCTV pushing a pram in the area.

Nicola Bulley, 45, was last seen a week ago walking next to the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre in Lancashire.

On Friday, Lancashire Police said they believed she had fallen in the river.

Officers now say they want to trace a potential witness – a woman in a yellow coat, who was walking on Garstang Road and Blackpool Lane on 27 January.

She was seen walking from the direction of Allotment Lane towards The Grapes pub at about 08:22 GMT, and is seen again on CCTV walking on Allotment Lane towards Garstang Road, 20 minutes later, at approximately 08:40.

Police believe she may have walked along the river path and are urging her to get in touch.

Ms Bulley was last seen walking her dog, Willow, near the River Wyre after dropping her two children off at primary school.

The spaniel was found about 25 minutes after Ms Bulley was last seen by another dog walker at approximately 09:10 GMT.

Detectives have also made a fresh appeal for drivers who might have dashcam footage from the area where Ms Bulley was last seen to come forward.

“It is really important that we gather as much footage as possible from the area that morning, so we can review every piece meticulously to establish whether Nicola can be seen,” a spokesperson said.

A major search for Ms Bulley has been continuing, involving police divers, drones and a helicopter – but as yet, nothing has been found to explain her disappearance.

Police said their “working hypothesis is that she has fallen into the river for some reason”, adding there was “no evidence” of anything suspicious.

But Ms Bulley’s sister, Louise Cunningham, urged people to “keep an open mind” about what might have happened, insisting there was “no evidence whatsoever” that she had fallen into the river.

In a post on Facebook, she said: “Please keep sharing my Nikki”, adding that suggestions she had fallen into the river were “just a theory”.

Ms Bulley’s friend, Emma White, told The Sun police were working on extracting data from Ms Bulley’s Fitbit watch.

“The Fitbit had not been synced since Tuesday,” she said, adding: “The police are trying other ways to try to get information from it.”

Earlier, she told the BBC: “We still have no evidence and that’s why we’re out again in force.

“You don’t base life on a hypothesis, do you? You absolutely can have hypotheses, but then you need something to back that hypothesis up to become factual.”

Detectives said they were “as confident as we can be that Nicola has not left the field where she was last seen, and our working hypothesis is that she has fallen into the river for some reason”.

“Our investigation remains open and we will of course act on any new information which comes to light.”

Ms Bulley’s partner, Paul Ansell, said he would “never lose hope” of finding her.

Police have urged locals to look out along the river for clothing that Ms Bulley was last seen wearing.

This included an ankle-length black, quilted gilet jacket, a black Engelbert Strauss waist-length coat, black jeans, green walking socks, ankle-length green Next wellies, a necklace and the Fitbit, which is pale blue.

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