Major Nicola Bulley development as cops reveal lane where she could have left field
POLICE have revealed a path Nicola Bulley could have taken if she had left the field where she was last seen.
Nicola, 45, disappeared while walking her dog on January 27 in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire.
Lancashire Police today confirmed their "main working hypothesis" remains that she fell in the river.
But they revealed two other theories for her disappearance - Nicola leaving the area voluntarily and third party involvement.
Detective Superintendent Rebecca Smith said officers are unable to "complete" every step Nicola took as CCTV only covered part of the normal route she made.
Officers have been “trawling” the area for more footage but parts of the nearby main road are not covered.
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But they have managed to rule out paths Nicola would not have taken if she left the field on foot.
It means the mum could have left via the river path, where officers have been focusing the search.
DS Smith said: "The area at the top of the field, Rowanwater, has CCTV that covers the gate that enters the field and the front of the site.
“That is working, the site managers have been cooperating with us and supporting this investigation at every stage.
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“We can say that Nicola has not entered that area or left.”
Footage also shows Nicola did not go down Allotment Lane or via the path at the rear of the Grapes pub onto Garstang Road.
DS Smith added: “What I can say – which we’ve established only yesterday – was that if Nicola had left out of the river path and turned right, she has not reached the Grapes pub.”
Police have been appealing for dashcam footage from drivers as so far, nothing indicates Nicola was on the path.
The officer said: “From the iron bridge to the school there is nothing there, which is why it’s so important for the dash cam.
“Because even though they’re going to be tiny bite-size information, they’re not going to be as good as CCTV – we need to be able to piece together as much of that road as we can.”
Police also confirmed Nicola was treated as a high risk missing person when she disappeared, which was "normal for a missing person with the information we were in possession of".
They later revealed this included that she had in the past struggled with alcohol consumption due to the menopause.
DS Smith said they were made aware of these vulnerabilities after speaking to Nicola's partner, Paul Ansell.
She said: "It's normal in any missing person investigation that you obviously gather as much information at an early stage about the person in question, which is no different and we did that with Paul.
"I'm not going to go into the details of those individual vulnerabilities.
"I've asked you to respect the family, who are going through unimaginable pain and distress at this moment.
"But those vulnerabilities based our decision-making in terms of grading Nicola as high risk and have continued to form part of my investigation throughout."
The officer confirmed the "main working hypothesis" remains that she fell in the river but police have always been "open minded".
She revealed three theories for her disappearance - the river, Nicola leaving the area voluntarily and third party involvement.
But DS Smith said: "There is not a single piece of information or evidence to suggest there is any third-party involvement."
There is also nothing to suggest Nicola left the field voluntarily.
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Asked if she hoped to find her alive, DS Smith said: "I hope with all my heart that we find Nicola Bulley alive more than anything."
