The CCTV blindspots surrounding area where Nicola Bulley vanished after police admitted missing mother could have left via path not covered by surveillance cameras
- Lancashire Police is working under the hypothesis that she slipped into the water
- But it has admitted possibility she left the area by one path not covered by CCTV
These are the CCTV blindspots surrounding the area where missing mother Nicola Bulley went missing – after police admitted she could have left the area via a path not covered by cameras.
Ms Bulley, 45, disappeared while walking her dog along the River Wyre shortly after dropping her children off at school near the village of St Michael’s, Lancashire, on January 27.
Lancashire Police is working under the hypothesis that she slipped into the water and drowned, but have admitted that it is possible she left the area by one path not covered by CCTV cameras.
The path in question leads to Garstang Road, which runs through the village, and is therefore a blindspot.
Officers have been attempting to trace dashcam footage from 700 drivers who passed along the route at the time of her disappearance.
A map of the area showing the location of the broken camera, the path leading to Garstang Road that is not covered by CCTV (top right circle) and a riverside path leading from the Wyreside Farm Caravan Park through to the A586 (left circle)
This is the area police have been searching for almost a fortnight but there is no sign of Ms Bulley
Aside from the river itself, there are only two other exits from the area, one of which is covered by CCTV.
Friends of the missing mother have claimed that CCTV covering the other exit, close to mobile home site Rowanwater, is not working.
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This camera would have covered the fields to the south of where Ms Bulley was last seen.
After reviewing other CCTV footage from within the mobile home site, police are confident that Nicola did not leave the field near the river via Rowanwater itself.
Another blindspot is a riverside path leading from the Wyreside Farm Caravan Park through to the A586.
A camera at a house close to the path is also understood to have not been working at the time, but did not cover the exit regardless.
Superintendent Sally Riley admitted this week that it remains a ‘possibility’ that the Ms Bulley left the area by a path not covered by CCTV cameras, but added that ‘every single’ suspicion or criminal suggestion had so far been discounted.
It comes as police today moved the focus of their search towards the sea, with boats trawling Morecambe Bay.
It has also emerged investigators could be trying to trace a ‘tatty’ red van parked near to where the mother-of-two vanished two weeks ago, after a witness reported it to police on two occasions.
Lancashire Police and a private diving company both conducted extensive searches along the River Wyre, but have so far found no trace of the mortgage adviser.
Ms Bulley – a 45-year-old mother-of-two – went missing near the River Wyre on January 27
Two boats with specialist police teams were today seen searching the coast off Morecambe Bay, around 20 miles from where Nicola was last seen, with police suggesting finding her ‘in the open sea becomes more of a possibility’.
Earlier, police sought to reassure the public today that their search is still active after no officers or divers were seen at the immediate scene of her disappearance along the River Wyre.
After three days of intense activity with diving expert Peter Faulding leading a search on a five-mile stretch of the river, it was eerily quiet with no police around.
Mr Faulding and his Specialist Group International team ended their investigations after he declared Ms Bulley was not in the stretch of river where he had been searching using high-tech sonar.
Police divers had joined in his search – but they were absent today with Lancashire Police assuring the public the search is continuing along other stretches of the river than runs into Morecombe Bay.
But Mr Faulding has previously said he doubts that Ms Bulley’s body would have been carried so far into the bay and out into the Irish Sea if she had indeed drowned.
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