Two ‘suspicious’ men spotted by witness near missing Nicola Bulley’s dog-walking route – as police are handed new CCTV
A WITNESS told police he spotted two men acting suspiciously — close to Nicola Bulley’s dog-walk route the day before she disappeared.
It came as cops took CCTV footage from a garage in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancs, covering the 24 hours before the last sighting of the mum.
A witness came forward after spotting the pair outside the local church.
Significantly, the same person told police he saw one of the men in the vicinity of her usual route on the morning she vanished.
Cops have also been handed new CCTV footage from a garage covering the 24 hours before Nicola was last seen.
The mum-of-two, 45, went missing while walking her dog Willow more than two weeks ago in St Michael’s.
READ MORE SUN EXCLUSIVES
Detectives visited St Michael’s Garage last Thursday requesting CCTV footage from the day before she vanished.
They had already taken images from the day of her disappearance.
A garage worker, who asked not to be named, said: “Two smartly dressed officers came in following up, a man and a woman.
“They wanted the CCTV from the day before Nicola vanished and to take statements of any activity we had seen from that day.
Most read in The Sun
“These officers were different to the ones in uniform, they seemed very assertive.”
The employee said of the church sighting: “I know who the witness is and he has already called police about what he saw.
"But he said he wanted to make sure they were chasing this up so I asked the officers about it and they said they were following it up.”
The worker said the witness, who does not want to go public with his account, described seeing the men acting suspicious, close to the church and around a nearby bridge on January 26.
He told how the witness said he saw one the next day near the bridge, which is at the start of the footpath which Nicola used almost daily.
The worker added: “He saw what he saw and wanted to make sure the police followed it up.
“Whether them collecting the CCTV from the same day is connected, I don’t know.”
Lancashire Police had already trawled the area for camera footage and dashcam video from January 27, the day Nicola vanished.
But as the hunt for Nicola now enters the 17th day, officers are widening the search as part of their ongoing inquiries.
The CCTV system at St Michael’s Garage, which is on the main road running through the village, covers one of the key exit points from the fields where Nicola went missing.
The garage worker confirmed the security cameras are in working order and picked up vehicles travelling along the main road.
One camera also covers the top of a country lane, close to where Nicola was last seen.
The church where the two men were seen is very close to the footpath Nicola regularly used which hugs the River Wyre.
The move for additional footage suggests cops are becoming more open to the possibility the mortgage adviser was snatched, rather than their “main working hypothesis” that she fell into the River Wyre in a “tragic accident”.
It comes after Nicola’s distraught partner Paul Ansell, 44, revealed his own fears that a local is keeping secret what happened to her.
He said he is “100 per cent convinced” that his partner of 12 years did not fall in the river.
Nicola disappeared after dropping off her two daughters at school.
She was last seen in a field along the Wyre at 9.10am. Twenty-five minutes later her phone was found on a bench by the river, and her dog was running free with the harness left on the ground.
Police suspect Nicola may have accidentally fallen in the river and been swept out to sea but say they are open to all lines of inquiry.
Yesterday a police helicopter was spotted landing several times upstream near Garstang while search teams were seen checking the river closer to the Irish Sea.
On Friday distraught Paul told 5 News’ Dan Walker in a revealing TV interview that he believes Nicola’s mobile was left behind as a “decoy”.
He claimed a local is harbouring a dark secret and called for searches to be stepped up in the village.
Paul said: “You cannot walk your dog down a river and just vanish into thin air. Something happened that day.”
Yesterday a dive expert who helped in the search for Nicola said she may have been taken or has possibly run off with a lover.
Peter Faulding is also unconvinced about the river theory which has put him at odds with Lancashire Police’s Supt Sally Riley.
He revealed that he had a “blunt conversation” with Paul after he was asked by the dad to help with the search.
He said: “I told him I had to be completely frank with him, and he needed to confront all options, hard though it was.
"Nicola was a pretty lady, she was a creature of habit, and she could have been targeted and taken.”
Despite no evidence, he went on: “She could have run off with a lover, she could have walked from the bench to the main road and into a car.
“It may seem unlikely — but everything about this case seems unlikely. It’s important to be upfront about these things, upsetting though it is.”
During his 28-year career, Mr Faulding says he has located hundreds of bodies, including in cases where the police have failed.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
He also supported Paul’s theory that Nicola’s phone may have been left on the bench as a decoy.
He added: The cases I have worked on — you can’t rule anything out. That’s why I have been brought in.”
Timeline of a mystery
JANUARY 27: Nicola drops girls at school before a walk with dog. She is last seen at 9.10am. Phone is found at 9.33am.
JAN 28: Police deploy drones and helicopters while an underwater search is launched.
JAN 29: Villagers start a search, and residents, including partner Paul, attend a town hall summit.
JAN 30: Supt Sally Riley says police are not treating the disappearance as suspicious. Paul calls the situation “perpetual hell”.
JAN 31: A key witness with a dog comes forward after a police appeal.
FEBRUARY 1: Ernest and Dot, Nicola’s parents, say her children “sobbed their hearts out” when told “mummy is lost”.
FEB 2: Police track down a second key witness seen on CCTV but they say they have no information.
FEB 3: Supt Riley confirms police are working on the theory Nicola fell into the river.
FEB 4: Sister Louise Cunningham says there is “no evidence” she fell in as cops track down a witness with a pram. Nicola’s Fitbit is also checked.
FEB 5: Peter Faulding’s specialist diving team offer services for free.
FEB 6: Paul posts online that the girls “miss their mummy desperately and need her back”.
FEB 7: Cops say the river hypothesis hasn’t changed and every criminal suggestion has been investigated.
FEB 8: The hunt moves 10 miles downstream to Morecambe Bay.
FEB 9: Police hunt for a “shabby red van”. TikTok and YouTube sleuths are warned to stay away.
FEB 10: Paul says on TV: “I am 100 per cent convinced it’s not the river.”