Nicola Bulley’s body is likely to be found within a ‘two-mile radius’, according to dive expert Peter Faulding
A DIVE expert believes if missing Nicola Bulley is dead then her body would likely be found within a two-mile radius.
Nicola, 45, disappeared while walking her dog on January 27 in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire.
Peter Faulding, who assisted the police in a specialist search of the river, is now scouring for places where she could have been buried.
The forensic expert is planning to hunt close to where Nicola disappeared for possible "deposition sites".
Peter said "normally people aren’t found too far away, often within a couple of miles”.
He has compiled a list of areas “where it would be possible to secrete a body without anyone noticing”.
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The search will include hedgerows and wooded areas where "it is possible to park a vehicle and deposit a body without being seen".
Peter said he decided to launch his own "low-key" search after having a "frank" conversation with Nicola's partner Paul Ansell and friend Heather Gibbons.
He claimed there is still a possibility Nicola ended up in the river.
Peter told : “On the river on the day it wasn’t running very fast.
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“I’ve spent a lot of time with the family and they said she was so cautious, did the same route every day, didn’t go near the river and her Fitbit shows she doesn’t go near the river.
"She would have to be pushed really hard to be launched out into the middle of the river."
The nation has been after her mobile was found on a bench still connected to a work conference call.
Nicola’s pet springer spaniel Willow was also found – but there was no trace still of the mum-of-two.
Lancashire Police said previously their “main working hypothesis” is that Nicola had “sadly fallen in the river”.
But officers were yesterday seen searching a caravan site just yards from where the mum was last seen.
The previously released a timeline of the missing mum’s final movements before she disappeared.
Nicola began her walk along the towpath to the River Wyre at 8.43am after dropping her two children off at school.
Police say around seven minutes later, a dog walker who knows Nicola saw her walking around the lower field with her springer spaniel Willow.
The witness said their two dogs interacted briefly before she left Nicola via the river path.
At 8.53am, the mum sent an email to her boss at Exclusively Mortgages.
She then logged into a Teams call at 9.01am and was seen around nine minutes later on the upper field walking Willow.
Police say at 9.30am, the work call ended but Nicola stayed logged on.
At around 9.35am, the mobile and Willow were found at a bench by the river but there was no sign of Nicola.
Police are probing a two hour gap between Nicola's last sighting and when she was reported missing at 11am.
Nicola has been described as white, 5ft 3ins tall with light-brown shoulder-length hair.
She was last seen wearing an ankle-length black quilted gilet jacket with a black Engelbert Strauss waist-length coat underneath and black tight-fitting jeans.
She had long green walking socks tucked into her jeans, ankle-length green Next wellies, a necklace and a pale blue Fitbit on.
Nicola has an Essex accent and links to the Thornton-Cleveleys area near Blackpool.
Anybody with information about where she might be is asked to call 101, quoting log 473 of January 27, or ring 999 for immediate sightings.
