Nicola Bulley 'did not fall in river', claims diving expert after video 'proof'
09.02.2023 - 16:55
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
There is video proof missing mum Nicola Bulley did not fall into the river where police believe she did, a diving expert has claimed. Peter Faulding, 60, who has led the hunt for Nicola, says a clip of the River Wyre shows it to be slow-moving.
Mr Faulding says this means her body would have sunk "very quickly" and remained nearby if she'd gone in. He also said the rocks by the bank would have been under just 2ft of water when she went missing, meaning she could have simply "stood up" if she'd fallen down.
He said the video makes him believe Nicola didn't fall into the river in St Michael's in Wyre, Lancashire, when she vanished 13 days ago while walking her dog. And 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 proof of her body in the river.
Mr Faulding, drafted in to help Lancashire Police's efforts, called off his search on Wednesday after his team found no trace of her using its advanced sonar equipment. But while police probing her disappearance say they believe she fell in, he believes the short clip revealing a barely-moving log on the water blows their theory apart.
He said of the video: "The log stayed at that point for 20 minutes, and it actually spiralled and went up six feet and came back to the same place.
"The river on the day was slightly higher - it was about a foot higher - but I'd be very surprised [if she was there, as] in my experience a body usually goes to the bottom very quickly.vIf Nicola slipped down the bank, she would have landed in about 2ft of water but onto rocks, and she could have stood up."
Mr Faulding's team, Specialist Group International, began searching the River Wyre, which flows from the Forest of