New information shared by police about Nicola Bulley's "vulnerabilities" has prompted forensic search expert Peter Faulding to explain how he would have changed his strategy if he'd known about it earlier.
The independent dive specialist was called in by missing Nicola's family to assist with the high-profile search. He has explained how his method would've been different if Lancashire Police had shared "crucial information" sooner about her issues with alcohol related to her difficulties coping with the menopause.
The mum-of-two disappeared while on a dog walk along Lancashire's River Wyre on January 27. Mr Faulding's Specialist Group International was drafted in 10 days later.
New information was shared publicly by the police in a press conference yesterday (Wednesday February 15), with the force revealing Nicola was being treated as a "high risk" missing person. Mr Faulding had previously questioned their theory that the 45-year-old had fallen in the river but now concedes she "could have ended up in the sea" if she "had jumped in, intended to take her own life or walk off".
He had previously said that if Nicola had ended up in the river her body would have been found. And he had said it was "impossible"' that her body made it to the sea, reported Lancashire Live.
Mr Faulding said he was told none of the information about her issues with alcohol when he arrived at the scene despite being briefed each day. "I would normally be given that information to make my job easier and deploy the appropriate resources to do that search," he told The Mirror.
SGI had been working along the theory she had slipped into the water and due to the weak current and many shallows, Mr Faulding said if she'd drowned her body would have been within 500 metres of the entry point. But a high risk missing person completely changes that, he said.
His team spent 72 hours scouring an area of water near where the missing mum's phone was found on a bench. But Mr Faulding said the phone is a possible red herring because if she was disoriented she may have wandered further upstream and gone in there.
As a result, he said his team would have extended their search even further upstream. "Just because you’ve got a phone there, that doesn’t mean you’ve got an entry point," he explained.
Mr Faulding said if Nicola had wandered back through the gate where her dog Willow was found and to the bridge - a CCTV blindspot - "she could’ve literally wandered off and no one would have seen her".
The underwater forensics expert went on to question if there is other information being withheld by the police. "Do they know something else again that they are not telling us?" he said. "Is there another snippet of information here that actually we don’t know?"
Since leaving the search last Wednesday, Mr Faulding has offered to return and use his expertise for a land search, but said he hasn't heard from the police. He said: "My offer is open to Lancashire Police but I’ve had no communication with Lancs Police since we left.
"Our phone has been quiet. I’m not ringing them because I don’t want to interfere but we have had no contact at all.
"We left the scene, that was job done. We did what we’d been tasked with," he added. He went on to criticise the police for giving out the information publicly at all.
"From my point of view…this information should never have been made public this afternoon at all. It’s not fair," Mr Faulding said.
"If we were given that information on the search, she is a vulnerable 'misper', which is normal for me to get that information, and she’s had alcohol issues etcetera, I’m not going to tell you.
"If I’m told to keep quiet I keep it between us. Our whole approach to the media may have different from day one."
"My thoughts are with the family and I feel bad that information has come out to the public," he added.
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