Police and private divers at loggerheads over what happened to Nicola Bulley trends now
Police are at loggerheads with specialist divers over what happened to missing mother Nicola Bulley - as detectives say they have 'exhausted' 500 lines of inquiry.
Lancashire Police today continued to rule out any ‘suspicious or criminal’ element to the disappearance of Ms Bulley, who vanished while walking her dog in St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire, on January 27.
A team of 40 detectives are currently working on around 500 different lines of inquiry and more than 700 drivers who travelled through the village around the time of her disappearance are being traced.
Police have said they are 'open minded' as to how the mother-of-two disappeared, but its working hypothesis remains that the 45-year-old fell into the river.
That is despite an underwater diving expert having claimed she is unlikely to be in the fast flowing Rive Wyre following two days of extensive searches.
Lancashire Police Superintendent Sally Riley pictured speaking to the media at St Michael's on Wyre Village Hall today
Peter Faulding (pictured) has said if his team cannot locate Ms Bulley in the river then she is not there and he would not rule out 'third-party involvement' in her disappearance
Speaking at a press conference today, Superintendent Sally Riley said police had been supplied with an ‘unprecedented’ amount of information and leads.
She added: 'At the moment there are around 500 active pieces of information and lines of inquiry that we're working on to try and find answers for Nicola's family.
'This is normal in a missing person inquiry and does not indicate that there is any suspicious element to this story.
'The inquiry team remains fully open-minded to any information that may indicate where Nicola is or what happened to her.'
But the police chief emphasised that detectives have not yet come across any evidence of foul play.
'Any criminal or suspicious element has been discarded,’ she said.
'It is important to stress that any information that comes in that indicates otherwise is being checked out all the time.
'We are not closed in any way to any particular line of inquiry but all these extensive inquiries, however, have so far found anything of note.’
Detailing the scale of the police inquiry Supt Riley said her team had received thousands of pieces of information 'from the public, wider community, the Bulley family and friends'.
Officers have conducted house to house inquiries in the village of St Michael’s on the Wyre and hours CCTV footage has also been analysed.
Police have identified 700 cars that passed through the village around the time Ms Bulley disappeared and each driver is being contacted and asked to check any dash cam footage they might have.
Police have said they are 'open minded' as to how the mother-of-two disappeared, but its working hypothesis remains that the 45-year-old fell into the river
Supt Riley said the police investigation by her officers had been reviewed by the National Crime Agency and they had not found any new line of inquiry that should be pursued.
