Independent underwater rescue team ‘set to assist’ search for Nicola Bulley
A independent underwater rescue team has reportedly offered to assist police in the search for missing mother-of-two Nicola Bulley.
Specialist Group International (SGI) will on Monday join the search of the waterways of St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire.
The team offered its services free of charge on social media, and will be led by forensic expert Peter Faulding.
‘I have just had a long call with the Lancashire police search adviser to discuss the search for Nicola,’ he said.
‘We will work closely with the police search teams who are working long hours to find Nicola.
‘The team are leaving shortly from our base in Dorking en route to Lancashire to start tomorrow morning.’
Since its inception in 1995, SGI has worked in the fields of specialist rescue, underwater and forensic search, and protester removal alongside a number of agencies including UK police forces and the FCI, according to its website.
Among its arsenal of technology and equipment, Faulding said the company has a £55,000 side-scan sonar with a high frequency of 1,800 kHz.
The sonar is likely to start from the weir and travel downwards to identify any possible targets.
Police also have a side-scan sonar but Faulding believes SGI’s is ‘probably a bit more superior’.
‘Sometimes you can get deep pools of water where the sonar can’t quite get to and that’s where you have to put the diver in,’ he told Sky News.
‘But this river winds around and there’s deep pools, there’s shallow bits, so it’s a lot of work.
‘We will work a long day and continue until we finish.’
Lancashire Police believe Ms Bulley, 45, accidentally fell into the river while out walking her dog on the morning of Friday 27 January.
Its search teams have already been scouring the river though have not been able to retrieve anything.
Timeline of events in the case of missing mother-of-two Nicola Bulley
– January 27
The 45-year-old dropped her daughters, aged six and nine, off at school in the morning before walking her dog, Willow, in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire.
Lancashire Police have said the mortgage adviser, from nearby Inskip, had been walking along a path beside the River Wyre just before 9am.
She was seen by a dog walker who knew her at around 8.50am, and their pets interacted briefly before they parted ways, according to the force.
At 8.53am, Ms Bulley sent an email to her boss, before logging on to a Microsoft Teams call at 9.01am.
She was seen by a second witness at 9.10am, the last known sighting.
By 9.30am, Ms Bulley’s Teams call had ended, but her phone stayed connected to the call.
Approximately five minutes later, another dog walker found her phone on a bench beside the river, with Willow darting between the two.
At 10.50am, Ms Bulley’s family and the school attended by her children were told about her disappearance.
Lancashire Constabulary launched an investigation into Ms Bulley’s whereabouts on the same day and appealed for witnesses to contact them.
– January 28
Lancashire Constabulary deployed drones, helicopters and police search dogs as part of the major missing person operation.
They were assisted by Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, as well as Bowland Pennine mountain rescue team and the North West underwater search team.
– January 29
Local residents held a meeting at the village hall to organise a search for Ms Bulley at 10.30am on Sunday, according to reports from The Mirror, and around 100 people joined the search.
Police urged volunteers to exercise caution, describing the river and its banks as ‘extremely dangerous’ and saying that activity in these areas presented ‘a genuine risk to the public’.
– January 30
Superintendent Sally Riley from Lancashire Constabulary said police were ‘keeping a really open mind about what could have happened’, and that they were not treating Ms Bulley’s disappearance as suspicious.
– January 31
Lancashire Constabulary spoke with a potential witness, a man who had been walking a small white fluffy dog near the River Wyre at the time of Ms Bulley’s disappearance.
Her family released a statement saying they had been ‘overwhelmed by the support’ in their community, and that her daughters were ‘desperate to have their mummy back home safe’.
– February 1
Ms Bulley’s parents, Ernest and Dot Bulley, spoke to The Mirror about the ‘horror’ they faced over the possibility of never seeing her again.
Her father told the newspaper: ‘We just dread to think we will never see her again, if the worst came to the worst and she was never found, how will we deal with that for the rest of our lives.’
– February 2
Lancashire Constabulary spoke with a second witness who they had identified with the help of the public using CCTV but they told police they did not have any further information to aid their inquiry.
Officers from the North West Police Underwater and Marine support unit searched the area close to where Ms Bulley’s mobile phone was found, while police divers scoured the River Wyre.
Meanwhile, Ms Bulley’s family appealed to the public for help tracing her.
Speaking with Sky News, her sister Louise Cunningham said: ‘There has got to be somebody who knows something and all we are asking is, no matter how small or big, if there is anything you remember that doesn’t seem right, then please reach out to the police.
‘Get in touch and get my sister back.’
Ms Bulley’s father said his family hoped their interview would ‘spark a light’ that would lead to her being found.
– February 3
Lancashire Police said they were working on the hypothesis that Ms Bulley may have fallen into the River Wyre.
Ms Riley urged against speculation, but said it was ‘possible’ that an ‘issue’ with Ms Bulley’s dog may have led her to the water’s edge.
She urged the public to look out for items of clothing Ms Bulley was last seen wearing, and gave an extensive list.
Ms Bulley’s friends also shared heartfelt appeals via television interviews, including Emma White, who told the BBC that Ms Bulley’s daughters were continually asking where she was.
– February 4
Ms Bulley’s friend, Emma White, casts doubt on the police theory that she fell into a river, telling Sky News it was based on ‘limited information’.
She said: ‘When we are talking about a life we can’t base it on a hypothesis, surely we need this factual evidence.
‘That’s what the family and all of us are holding on to, that we are sadly no further on than last Friday.’
SGI’s involvement comes as new images were released of Ms Bulley from the day she disappeared.
The images, taken from her home’s doorbell camera and released by her family, show her loading the car before driving her two children to school.
Meanwhile, a woman described as a ‘key witness’ by police has come forward after a call was on Saturday put out to trace a person seen pushing a pram in the area Ms Bulley went missing.
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