Libby Squire’s mum sends poignant message to Nicola Bulley’s partner Paul Ansell as she tells him don’t ‘give up’
LIBBY Squire's mum has sent a poignant message to missing Nicola Bulley's partner.
Cops searching for Nicola yesterday combed a caravan park for clues close to where she vanished.
Officers were seen visiting the site which is just a few feet from the riverside bench where her mobile phone was found abandoned.
Underwater dive teams were also exploring a new section of river as detectives clung to the belief the 45-year-old fell in and drowned.
Last night, as Nicola's family and friends prayed for news, they were urged not to give up hope.
Lisa Squire's beloved daughter Libby, 21, vanished during a night out in Hull after she was dumped in a river by her brutal killer.
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Her body was swept out into the Humber Estuary by the tide but against all odds was spotted seven weeks later by the crew of a passing boat.
In a moving message to Nicola’s distraught partner Paul Ansell, 44, and her family, Lisa said: "Please don’t give up hope.
"Do what you’re doing. Put one foot in front of the other and hope for that positive outcome.
"I know how it feels to have that hope every day, to wake up in the morning and think 'today she’ll come home', then get to the night-time and think 'tomorrow, it will be tomorrow'.
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"It’s so draining but keep hope that Nicola will be found."
Lisa, 52, said the searches for Nicola had brought back the painful memories of the desperate hunt for Libby in 2019.
She added: "When I saw the little police dinghy on the river looking for Nicola it took me right back.
"I hope for Nicola’s family’s sake that she will come back alive with an explanation.
"But I remember the police saying to us we would have to consider Libby had come to harm as the days went on.
"It’s the not knowing that’s so difficult.
"I remember saying to my husband Russell after two weeks ‘Libby’s not coming home’, then feeling really guilty thinking I’d given up on her.
"You fill your mind with all sorts because no answers are forthcoming.
"For me, I always somehow knew that Libby would come back but I needed it to happen. I don’t know how I would have functioned had she not been found.
"At the moment the family’s lives must feel wretched. I’ve been through it and had the worst."
It comes after a dive expert said Nicola may have been "pushed really hard" into the river.
Peter Faulding and his team have already searched the icy Lancashire waterway for the mum - and pulled out when they couldn't find her.
After exhausting their resources the veteran diver, who founded Specialist Group International, said he didn't think Nicola was in the river.
However he today voiced a theory while offering to rejoin search efforts.
Peter said there was a possibility the 45-year-old ended up in the middle of the River Wyre on January 27 - the day she vanished.
He 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."