Nicola Bulley: ‘Abandoned’ house near where missing mum vanished during dog walk searched by rescuers
AN unoccupied house has been searched as part of the hunt for missing mum Nicola Bulley.
The 45-year-old's phone was found close to the home after she disappeared during a conference call.
The mum vanished while walking her dog next to the River Wyre off Garstang Road in St Michael's on Wyre on Friday and police have been searching for the mum ever since.
Her phone was found abandoned on a bench near the river path, still logged onto her work call from the morning.
Kev Camplin of Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue has been told The Mirror: "The abandoned house is right opposite the bench on the other side of the river, over a 10ft garden wall.
"We didn’t go into the house, as a volunteer search and rescue team we don’t actually go into buildings. We might go into a barn or something. We leave that to the police.
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"While the team was searching the grounds, the owner was there for some reason, and we asked him to go in and he had a quick look around and she wasn’t there."
Yesterday police tracked down a potential key witness who may be one of the last people to see a missing mum-of-two.
Lancashire Police today said they are looking for a "potentially key witness" to come forward.
They said the man was in the area at the time Nicola went missing walking a small white fluffy dog on a leash.
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He spoke to a woman in the area before walking in the direction of Rowanwater.
Officers have now confirmed the man has been found and is now speaking to police.
Nicola's dog Willow was discovered safe, but the mum has seemingly disappeared.
Nicola's brother-in-law Stephen Cunningham said: "The whole family, as expected, are struggling to understand what’s happened and worried beyond words.”
It comes as partner Paul Ansell revealed fresh clues into the mum's disappearance.
The engineer, 44, said his girlfriend had taken the children to school as normal then headed out on her regular morning dog walk.
He added: "I rang police after I got a call from the school regarding somebody who found Willow and Nikki's phone and the dog lead and harness on the bench.
"We take the kids to school and take the dog down there - either myself or Nikki - nearly every day."
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Nicola was last seen walking east along the towpath of the River Wyre at 9.15am on January 27.
An extensive search has been launched to find the mum-of-two, involving police, firefighters, mountain rescue, underwater teams and the local community.
