A former detective who exposed Jimmy Savile has raised questions over the police theory that missing mum Nicola Bulley has fallen into the river. Mark Williams-Thomas has asked why police were so certain from early on that the 45-year-old had not left the location near the river.
Mum-of-two Nicola went missing two weeks ago while walking her springer spaniel Willow in the Lancashire village of St Michael's on Wyre on Friday, January 27. Her mobile phone, which was still connected to a work call, was found on a bench near the river with her dog nearby, but no trace of Nicola has been found since.
Police are working on the theory that Nicola entered the water and have ruled out any third-party involvement, but Mr Williams-Thomas, who now produces crime documentaries, said: "From very early on police were certain #NicolaBulley did not leave the location. I have always questioned this, they could not be certain about this given every exit route is NOT covered by working CCTV . This plays into my worry of looking for evidence to support a hypothesis."
Read more: Live updates as friends appeal for information two weeks after disappearance
Lancashire Police said the scale of the missing person inquiry is "unprecedented", involving 40 detectives and following 500 lines of inquiry. Former Met Police Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville, who was in charge of a missing person unit, has said there are "several possibilities".
He told TalkTV: "It is a very tragic case and I feel for the family, and there are several possibilities. The police believe she went into the water, she could also have decided to vanish herself. There is the possibility she was either taken by force by someone who either didn't know her, or someone who she did.
"These are the four things the police will be looking for. They seem to be going on the theory that she fell into the river, but from what they are saying, Lancashire Police are not putting all their eggs in one basket and they are examining several possibilities. They are doing a good job. There has been some mistakes along the way, but they are doing a good job."
He added: "There are very few people who vanish without a trace. They must have realised something was really seriously wrong quite early on, and that bench was not sealed off. That was an opportunity lost."
Meanwhile the search continues and friends have gathered for another roadside appeal two weeks on from her disappearance.
Members of the local community will stand by the road in the Lancashire village of St Michael's on Wyre with banners and placards featuring her photograph, in a plea to "bring Nikki home".
Police believe the 45-year-old fell in the River Wyre while walking her springer spaniel Willow on January 27.
Friend Emma White told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Friday: "The local community are coming out again today to just raise that profile, trying to jog anybody's memory, dashcam footage of Garstang Road, which is just outside of the village of St Michael's on Wyre, just by the bridge that you go over.
"It is quite a key part of the village so people would remember going over it. Did they see anything?
"We're out with banners, we've got placards of Nikki's face, we've got a moving eight-foot LED board with her face on it with the message 'Bring Nikki home'. We just need Nikki home for her two beautiful little girls who need their mummy."
The focus of the police search has now shifted from where Ms Bulley vanished to further downstream, towards where the River Wyre empties into the Irish Sea at Morecambe Bay.
A dinghy with two officers on board could be seen on the water on Thursday, while an orange rescue boat was also spotted appearing to do sweeps of the river off Knott End-on-Sea, at the mouth of the bay, around 10 miles from where the mortgage adviser's phone was found on a bench, still connected to a work call.
Ms White said the search had been "like torture".
She told the Today programme: "It is just a rollercoaster, it is almost like torture - the despair, the unimaginable frustration in the sense that everyone has come together, working so hard: the police, the community, people on the ground.
"You expect to be rewarded for when you put hard work in, so we just need something, anything, a piece of information that can lead us down a different inquiry."
Multiple searches of the "hot-spot" area near the bench, the suspected "entry point" of where Ms Bulley went into the water, have been conducted by police divers and underwater search experts.
Ms Bulley's family called in help from Peter Faulding, of Specialist Group International, but after a three-day search earlier this week, no trace of Ms Bulley was found.
Mr Faulding said his searches confirmed Ms Bulley was not in the section of river searched by his team and police divers, but described himself as "baffled" after ending his fruitless search.
Ms Bulley's partner Paul Ansell has described the "perpetual hell" the family is suffering as they await news, with her daughters asking: "Where's mummy?"
Meanwhile, police were given extra powers to break up groups causing a nuisance in the village amid reports of people travelling into the area and filming properties on social media.
The order will remain in place for 48 hours and gives officers the power to disperse anyone committing anti-social behaviour.
Officers had previously warned members of the public not to "take the law into their own hands" by breaking into empty or derelict riverside properties to try to find Ms Bulley.
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