Nicola Bulley search: LIVE updates as search for missing mum who vanished in St Michael's continues
and live on Freeview channel 276
Lancashire Police said officers are keeping an “open mind” while continuing to appeal for information about Nicola, who disappeared on January 27. The force is continuing to search the River Wyre towards the sea at Morecambe Bay, working on one hypothesis that the 45-year-old, from Inskip could have fallen in.
Their 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 deployed.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdHer 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.
We will bring you the latest updates, pictures, videos and interviews in our live blog below...
Nicola Bulley search live: The latest updates from police, search teams and family in search for missing mum
Key Events
- Nicola has now been missing for more than two weeks after disappearing on Friday, January 27
- Partner Paul Ansell appears on TV in emotional interview with Dan Walker
- Police clarify “tatty red van” seen in the area at time of disappearance
Yellow ribbons of hope
Yellow ribbons of hope line a bridge in St Michael’s as the hunt for missing mother-of-two Nicola Bulley enters a 17th day.
The ribbons on a bridge over the River Wyre have messages including “Never give up hope” and “Nikki, I love you, come home”. Another reads: “Praying for your safe return”.
Partner’s emotional TV address
The partner of missing mother-of-two Nicola Bulley says it has always been his “gut instinct” that she is not in the river.
Speaking to 5 News presenter Dan Walker, Paul Ansell said he wants to keep “all options open” about her disappearance as he opened up in an emotional interview about the last two weeks.
Police clarify “tatty red van” reports
There is ‘nothing to suggest’ the red van spotted on the day of Nicola Bulley’s disappearance is suspicious, say Lancashire Police, as they work through hundreds of pieces of information.
Police have confirmed that they received reports about the van, and are ‘making efforts to identify the owner’ – but said there is nothing to suggest it’s anything other than one of many hundreds of vehicles in the area that morning.
It had been the subject of lots of speculation.
Police search 7 miles from where Nicola Bulley vanished
Police have begun searching in the water underneath the Shard Bridge in Hambleton - more than seven miles from where Nicola Bulley was last seen.
The focus of the police search operation has now shifted from where Nicola vanished to further downstream, towards where the River Wyre empties into the Irish Sea at Morecambe Bay.
Nicola Bulley documentary presented by Dan Walker to air tonight two weeks after the mum-of-two vanished
Today marks two weeks since Nicola Bulley mysteriously disappeared while walking her dog near the River Wyre in the village of St Michael’s.
Tonight (Friday, February 10, 2023), Channel 5 will broadcast a special programme called ‘Vanished: Where Is Nicola Bulley?’ which follows the search so far for the missing mum-of-two.
St Michael's residents feel the strain two weeks on from the disappearance of the mum-of-two
Two weeks on from Nicola Bulley's disappearance, the sleepy village St Michael's is a changed place.
With no news on the mum-of-two's whereabouts and with the search teams having left the immediate area where she was last seen, the impact of the world's media attention and unanswered questions are taking their toll.
TikTokers hit with police dispersal order in village where missing mum vanished
A group of TikTokers searching for Nicola Bulley were hit with a police dispersal order after filming in the village where the missing mum vanished.
Lancashire Police say two groups were issued with dispersal orders last night (Wednesday, February 8) after snooping around properties and filming TikTok videos outside homes in St Michael’s.
One group, reportedly from near Liverpool, were warned they faced arrest if they returned and continued to cause alarm to those living in the usually peaceful and picturesque Lancashire village.
Underwater search expert says video is ‘proof’ she didn’t fall into the river
The diving expert who led an indepdent underwater search for Nicoal this week said the video is ‘proof’ she didn’t fall into the river where police believe she did.
Peter Faulding, 60, says the clip of the River Wyre shows it to be slow-moving, meaning her body would have sunk “very quickly” and remained nearby if she’d gone in.
He also said the rocks by the bank, which would have been under just 2ft of water when she went missing, mean she could have simply “stood up” if she’d fallen down.
He said the clip makes him believe Nicola didn’t fall into the river in St Michael’s when she vanished two weeks ago today.
He added that he felt a “wider land search” of outbuildings and sheds was now needed after his team’s sonar scans of the river failed to find any trace of her in the river.
“I’m baffled by it and I think most people are,” says search expert
An underwater search expert said the case of missing mum-of-two Nicola is a “complete mystery”, after his team could not find her.
Peter Faulding, of private search team SGI, confirmed his three-day involvement ended on Wednesday.
Asked what he thinks happened to Nicola, he said: “It’s a total mystery for me, I really don’t know.
“In all the searches I’ve done, this is one which will stick with me.
“Normally we get tasked with, you know, searching for a knife or a body and there’s been a witness to a drowning or we’ve got really good intelligence.
“The sort of information we’ve got here is a mobile phone on a bench but we don’t know anything else.
“I’m glad really that we haven’t found Nicola because I didn’t want to recover another dead body.
“It just opens it up, is she alive, is she dead?
“Did she go in the river or didn’t she?
“And I can’t say one way or another.
“I’m baffled by it and I think most people are.”
