Nicola Bulley: Private dive team brought in as last images of missing mum released

A team of private divers have joined search efforts to find missing mum, Nicola Bulley as last images of her from her doorbell camera have been released.

In what is now into the 10th day of the search for the missing mum-of-two, divers from the private Specialist Group International (SGI) are now assisting Lancashire Police. The firm’s founder, Peter Faulding, said he had offered the team’s services free of charge to the force.

The 45-year-old mum was last seen by a member of the public on a riverside dog walk in St Michael’s on Wyre, in Lancashire, on Friday January 27th. Police believe she may have fallen into the River Wyre.

The mortgage advisor was captured on the doorbell camera of her home as she went on the school run before her disappearance. The images show her getting ready to set off on the four-mile journey from her home. Dressed in her walking boots and hooded raincoat, she is seen opening the boot of the family car as her dog, Willow, jumps in the back.

The private team of drivers have already been scouring the water as they join a team of volunteers, along with mountain rescue, sniffer dogs, drones and helicopters, but no trace of Ms Bulley has yet been found. The firm’s founder, Peter Faulding said: “We’re bringing extra divers, and we also bring hi-tech sonar.

“It gives us double the resources so we can cover an extremely large area.”

Police said SGI’s offer to assist in the search was ‘taken up after speaking with Nicola’s family’, saying: “We continue to lead an extensive and far-reaching multi-agency search using a wide range of specialist equipment and resources.”

Hoping the extra help would bring the family ‘answers’, friend, Emma Wight, added: “Following the theory or hypothesis of the police that Nicola is in the river, we need some evidence to back that up either way.” 

After she was last sighted, Ms Bulley’s phone was found on a bench by the Wyre, along with a dog harness, some 25 minutes later.

It was still logged in to a conference call.

Lancashire Police have said there was no evidence of ‘anything untoward’ happening to her or any third-party involvement.

With Detective Superintendent Sally Riley saying officers were ‘as sure as we can be that Nicola has not left the area where she was last seen and that very sadly for some reason she has fallen into the water’.

Detectives said they were open to new information and criticised the online abuse of people who had been helping their inquiry, declaring it ‘totally unacceptable’.

Ms Bulley’s disappearance has drawn a lot of attention on social media with thousands of people commenting on the ongoing search. Many have wished the family well while some people have been speculating about what might have happened by discussing the family’s finances and relationships.

According to the BBC, Ms Bulley’s friend Heather Gibbons said ‘vile’ theories being shared online were hurtful, and that she was concerned that as Ms Bulley’s daughters get older ‘they will be able to look back and they will be able to see everything that was said’.

As reported by the Manchester Evening News, a spokesperson for Lancashire Police said: “The speculation and abuse on social media aimed at some people who are merely assisting our enquiry is totally unacceptable.

“We would urge people to remember that we are investigating the disappearance of Nicola, and the priority is Nicola and her family. We want to find her and provide answers to her family.”