Search for Nicola Bulley moves to the sea

The search for missing Nicola Bulley has moved to the coastline at Morecambe Bay, 15km downstream from where the mother of two was last seen.

Lancashire Constabulary said the focus of the investigation was now in an area of the river that becomes tidal “and then out towards the sea”.

On Thursday morning, two specialist police boat teams were seen at Morecambe Bay before moving further upstream. Specialist police search officers patrolled the banks of the estuary at Shard Bridge, near Skippool, around 8km from the coast.

There was noticeably less police activity in St Michael’s on Wyre, the village where the 45-year-old went missing while walking her dog on Jan 27, but the force confirmed that it was continuing to search “areas of the River Wyre and surrounding area”.

On Wednesday night, a dispersal order was issued after members of the public from outside the St Michael’s area were seen filming the spot where Ms Bulley vanished on social media.

Police said the order “will remain in place for 48 hours and gives officers the power to disperse anyone committing anti-social behaviour” and stressed that criminality, including trespass and criminal damage would not be tolerated.

Dispersal notices were issued to two people, while a number of others were warned about their behaviour.

It is believed members of the public had broken into property on the outskirts of the village, near where Ms Bulley had last been seen.

The force added that it was aware of “grossly offensive” comments on social media and said it “will not hesitate to take action where appropriate.”

Police have been working on the theory that Ms Bulley fell into to River Wyre “for some reason” but have stressed they remain open-minded and are carrying out a “huge number” of enquiries.

It comes after it was revealed Ms Bulley was last seen almost two hours before police were called. The last reported sighting was at 9.10am when she was seen walking her dog, Willow.

A trace of “telephony” records allowed investigators to conclude that her phone was on a bench overlooking the river, where they believe she slipped and fell in, by 9.20am. At 9.33am, a witness found the dog’s harness on the grass between the bench and the river’s edge, along with the phone.

On Thursday, Lancashire Constabulary confirmed that it only received a call about Ms Bulley’s disappearance at 11am, almost two hours after the last confirmed sighting of her.

The time frame could explain why police search teams were unable to locate Ms Bulley’s body in the immediate area where she is believed to have fallen into the river.

Friendshave previously said that the first person to stumble across the dog and phone initially tied the pet to the bench and messaged a family member asking if they knew who it belonged to.

When they were told they believed the dog and phone were Ms Bulley’s, the local primary school, where her children attend, was notified at around 10.50am. The school in turn notified Paul Ansell, her partner. It was at around this time that emergency services were called.

On Wednesday, the private Specialist Group International search team called off their attempts to find her after three days scouring the River Wyre.

Peter Faulding, SGI’s founder, said he believed that “if she was in the river she would have surfaced by now”, adding: “She may never be found. We don’t know. No one knows. It is unusual because usually you have some evidence. Here we have nothing. We have nothing to go on apart from a phone and a harness.”

Mr Faulding said he would have expected police divers to find Ms Bulley in the water just below the bench if she had fallen in, adding: “In my 20-odd years of doing this, I have worked on hundreds of cases [and] I have never seen anything so unusual.”

Ms Bulley’s family and friends have repeatedly urged investigators to keep an open mind as to what may have happened.

Police have been focusing their attention on the crucial 10-minute window between 9.10 and 9.20am. They have appealed to more than 700 drivers for information and claims to have around 500 active lines of inquiry.