Forensic dive expert Peter Faulding, who has been searching for missing mother Nicola Bulley in the River Wyre, has opened up about the "worst mistake" the police made during the investigation so far.
Bulley, 45, disappeared on January 27 after dropping her two young daughters off at school and heading on a walk with the family's dog, Willow.
A short while after Bulley was last seen a passerby found her phone on a bench near the river - still connected to a work conference call - and her dog's lead near the water, while Willow was seen wandering around on her own in an agitated state with no sign of her owner.
Police had initially declared that they believed Bulley had fallen in the water, however two weeks on - and with extensive underwater searches with divers and sonar equipment - there is still no trace of the missing woman.
Faulding, who took on the underwater search with his Specialist Internationalist Group firm, has spoken out about a crucial error he believes the police made when they began their investigation into Bulley's disappearance.
He told the Daily Mail: "I think the worst mistake the police have made was to declare early on that she’s in the river rather than saying 'let’s keep lines of inquiry open'.
"This is a lady who knew this area intimately, she was slim and fit, and if she had fallen she could have grabbed on to the bank."
Fauldng pointed out that the water level near the bench where Bulley's phone was found was generally shallow, adding: "It’s even more shallow now but on the day it would have been around two feet deep, if she slipped she would have gone in and hit rock very quickly and been up to her thigh, that’s all. This is not drowning territory."
The diver called off his search last week and believes that if Bulley had entered the river, she would have been found by now.
He said from experience that most victims of drowning are found between 5-10 meters from where they entered the water, and the chances of the body being carried away by the water are generally low.
Police had initially said they believed Bulley had fallen in the water and drowned rather than it being a crime investigation.
However, extensive searches in the area have brought no further clues, leading them to open up further lines of inquiry.
Bulley's partner, Paul Ansell, has also urged the police to search further afield in case a third party was involved in her disappearance, adding that he is "100 percent convinced" she is not in the river.
He told Channel 5 in the UK that Bulley had known the area well and had done the same walk for several years, and believes someone in the local village must know something about what happened to her.
"Whatever has happened - in my eyes - has to be somebody who, who knows the local area, who knows that. And the fact that nothing’s been seen or heard, I just truly believe that it’s something in the village,” Ansell said.
"It is horrendous because you, you people don’t just vanish into thin air. It’s absolutely impossible. So something has happened.
"My plea now is personally, I want every house, every garage, every outbuilding, the land scrutinized. I want it all searched. I want it all scrutinized, every piece of it. You’re not gonna appease me with anything else. That, that is what I want to happen."
Lancashire Constabulary issued an update on Friday, saying that they were "keeping an open mind" about what had happened to Bulley.
They said in a statement: "Based on all the work we have done up to now our belief remains that Nicola may have fallen into the river for some reason, but we are continuing to investigate all possible leads, and this involves viewing CCTV, Dashcam footage and speaking to people who are providing us with information.
"It remains the case that at the present time there is absolutely nothing in all the extensive inquiries we have made that suggests anything untoward has happened or that there is any third-party involvement in Nicola’s disappearance, but the investigation is ongoing.
"Throughout this investigation we have been keeping an open mind about what might have happened to Nicola, and we continue to look at all the potential scenarios to eliminate them. We are reviewing our decisions regularly."
