Nicola Bulley search expert Peter Faulding insists she did not drown in the stretch of river near the bench

Speaking to GBNews, the chief executive of Specialist Group International (SGI) re-stated his belief that the mum-of-two did not drown in the stretch of river where her phone was found on January 27.

The 60-year-old was asked to explain how he failed to find any trace of a body during his team’s high-profile three day search of the water earlier this month.

It follows the discovery of a body in the River Wyre close to Rawcliffe Road and less than a mile from where Nicola vanished.

Procedures to identify the body are on-going and police are currently treating the death as ‘unexplained’.

Mr Faulding was called in by the family to help police and says he still does not believe she drowned near the bench where her phone and dog's harness were found.

He has faced criticism for fuelling speculation on social media following his many TV appearances in which he repeatedly raised doubts about the police theory that Nicola entered the river.

Lancashire Police have previously said speculation and rumours have distracted from the investigation and caused distress to Nicola’s family.

In a discussion with Isabel Webster and Eamonn Holmes he said “there's always a fall guy and it looks like it's me, but I'm not accepting it” before hitting out at ‘trolls’ on social media.

“I categorically confirm that Nicola was not on the river bed, we would have seen her body."

He told GB News: “I would like to make it very clear that the police have searched that area with sonar and divers for the last three weeks. We spent four hours searching for Nicola on that strip of the river.

“I categorically confirm that Nicola was not on the river bed, we would have seen her body.

“If it was Nicola, and I hope it's not or whoever it is, the body was found in the reeds not on the river bed and I was clear with the media that our sonar does not search in the reeds.

“They all know that and the police know that there was no sign of Nicola on the bottom.

“If Nicola had fallen in at the bench where the phone was found, she would have landed in two feet of water, she would not have drowned at that location.

“I don't believe Nicola went in because the police divers searched that area thoroughly that afternoon and drowning victims go to the bottom, she could not have made it over the weir in a day.

“There's no way and my whole team and other police have looked at this. It baffled me and I am the one on here today defending my good work to try and help all the families that we do free of charge.

“I want to say again, the police have searched that area along the banks for three weeks thoroughly with divers, using side-scan sonar, and us - and you know there's always a fall guy and it looks like it's me, but I'm not accepting it.

“We've got the sonar imagery of the river bed…we did the best with our ability, but it was not our remit to search the reeds at all. That was the land search teams.”

He added: “My thoughts go out to the family. I’ve remained in close contact with the family.

“The trolls out there, we need to get a grip of these people. These are just the vile comments against the family, the police, myself - it's no one's fault.

“It's a very hard job dealing with drownings and missing people. It's not easy.

“We have to take our hats off to everyone who actually got involved with this search. And it's the trolls who need to be exposed, I'm afraid.”