WON'T GIVE UP
Major search update in Nicola Bulley case as hunt for missing mum leads police 20 miles from where she went missing
COPS searching for missing mum Nicola Bulley are now focusing on the coastline nearly two weeks after she vanished during a river walk.
Mum-of-two Nicola has been missing since she disappeared while walking her dog in St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire, on January 27.
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It has now emerged that the hunt has taken Lancashire Police as far away as Morecambe Bay, Fleetwood as divers search the River Wyre.
Detectives believe that the 45-year-old fell into the river, which flows all the way to Morecambe, between 9.10am and 9.20am that day while on a walk with her springer spaniel, Willow.
Meanwhile, a new lead has emerged as a "tatty red van" was seen parked close to where she went missing.
The update represents a major twist in the case after underwater search expert Peter Faulding said that there was "no way" she could have reached the sea even if the current theory is true.
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Faulding, whose team was assisting the police in the search, told : "We've been using the high frequency side scan sonar in this stretch today and it's so detailed I can even see every stone of it. She's not in this stretch.
"We also sonar-ed on the other side down yesterday in the tidal river. Now if you take a football on a tidal river…when the tide goes out the ball will go down the stream and then as soon as the tide turns it will come back in again. It'll end up back at the same place.
"For Nicola to get out to the sea would be impossible, literally, it is such a long way."
However, he and his team have now dramatically withdrawn from the effort, saying that Nicola may "never be found".
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Meanwhile, police divers are understood to be focussing their attention of parts of the river further downstream from the initial disappearance site and as far away as its mouth in Morecambe.
Officers have confirmed they are focusing on the mouth of the river, with Lancashire Police suggesting finding Nicola "in the open sea becomes more of a possibility".
The Wyre flows through the southern end of the bay and out into the Irish sea.
Specialist cops took to dinghy's to comb the area off the Lancashire coast
Dressed in dark waterproofs, they bobbed through the clear blue water looking for any sign of the missing mum.
Sadly, their efforts did not bear any fruit.
It comes after the force issued a fresh warning over trolls and amateur detectives disrupting the search.
A Lancashire Police spokesperson said: "We hope that will give people some reassurance that we will not tolerate criminality, including trespass and criminal damage.
"We are also aware of a number of grossly offensive comments being made on social media and elsewhere.
"We are looking into these and will not hesitate to take action where appropriate."
What do we know so far?
Nicola Bulley vanished while walking near St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire, on January 27.
Cops believe that she fell into the river as she walked her springer spaniel Willow.
At the time of her disappearance, she was wearing a long black gilet jacket with a hood and had her hair tied in a ponytail.
She had black jeans on with olive green ankle wellies.
Nicola's phone and the dog's lead were found on a bench nearby.
She was last seen at 9.10am that morning.
Superintendent Sally Riley of Lancashire Police confirmed there is a ten minute window where they cannot account for Nicola's movements, amid fears she left the path in a CCTV blackspot.
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This is between the last confirmed sighting at 9.10am, and 9.20am when Nicola's phone was connected to a work call on the bench.
The Sun Online has produced a full timeline of the case with every detail available.
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