Forensics expert says ‘third party’ could be involved in case of missing dog walker Nicola Bulley

An underwater search for missing Nicola Bulley who disappeared on 27th January is continuing

Martha McHardy
Tuesday 07 February 2023 09:37 GMT
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Nicola Bulley: Search expert believes ‘third party involved’ if missing mother not in river

A forensic expert has warned that a ‘third party’ could be involved in the case of missing Nicola Bulley who disappeared in Lancashire 11 days ago.

The lead of a diving team searching for the dog walker said his instincts tell him if she is not found today in the river near where her phone was found, there was a “third party “ involved in her disappearance.

Peter Faulding, the chief executive of Specialist Group International (SGI) said he is “very surprised” that she has not been found in river searches.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast as his team set out to scan the River Wyre with sonar equipment, Faulding was asked what his “gut feeling” was after more than one week of searching has failed to find the mother-of-two.

Specialist Group International (SGI), lead by forensic expert Peter Faulding, are searching for Ms Bulley in the waterways of St Michael’s on Wyre village

“If Nicola is not in that stretch of river today my view is that there could be a third party and that [the phone] was a decoy placed by the river,” he said.

Peter Faulding told Radio 4’s Today programme: “The initial area where Nicola went in, where the bench is, the police thoroughly searched that the same day, and did it again days later.

Nicola Bulley: Search expert believes ‘third party involved’ if missing mother not in river

“From all my experience, I would expect a body when it goes down and drowns, to go straight down to the bottom, and remain there until the body starts to decompose and then it will start moving.”

He added that there is not enough of a current in the River Wyre, where police believe Ms Bulley may have fallen, for her to have been moved downstream on the day she went missing.

Mr Faulding said of continued search efforts “today we’re going to concentrate again upstream in the non-tidal section of the river, including past the bench again, just in case”.

Lanchasire Police have warned that speculation and comments on social media surrounding the case are “unhelpful to the investigation and, more importantly, hurtful for the family, who are going through agony as they wait for answers.”

Speaking during Home Office questions on Monday, the MP for Blackpool North and Cleveleys, Paul Maynard, said that speculation and people turning up at St Michael’s on Wyre was “hampering” the investigation.

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