‘We need you home’: Messages on yellow ribbons left for missing mother Nicola Bulley

Ms Bulley vanished on January 27 while walking her springer spaniel Willow in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire

Friends and family have shown missing mother-of-two Nicola Bulley has not been forgotten by leaving yellow ribbons with handwritten messages on a bridge close to where she disappeared.

Ms Bulley vanished on January 27 while walking her springer spaniel Willow in St Michael’s on Wyre in Lancashire, shortly after dropping her daughters, aged six and nine, at school.

Ribbons with messages including “We need you home Nicola”, “praying for your safe return” and “I love you” have been tied to a footbridge over the River Wyre.

A large poster with a photograph of Ms Bulley has also been attached to the railings.

It comes as the search for Ms Bulley, 45, a mortgage adviser from Inskip, has entered the 17th day.

Lancashire Police are continuing to trawl the River Wyre towards the sea at Morecambe Bay, working on one hypothesis that Ms Bulley could have fallen in.

The 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.

Ms Bulley’s partner, Paul Ansell, said he wants to keep “all options open” about her disappearance, but his “gut instinct” tells him she is not in the river.

He described Ms Bulley as “fun”, “loving”, “the most loyal friend you could ever have” and an “exceptional mum” who “absolutely adores our girls”.