Diving expert looking for Nicola Bulley pulls out of search, saying she’s not where police think she is

'If Nicola was in that river I would have found her'

The mystery surrounding Nicola Bulley's disappearance continued to grow last night after a diving expert leading an underwater search of the area pulled out of the operation after confirming there is  'no sign’ the missing mum is in the stretch of river police believe she is. Peter Faulding, a specialist called in by the family, said his team couldn’t find the 45-year-old who vanished more than a week ago. Lancashire Police believe Nicola accidentally fell into the River Wyre while walking her dog on the morning of January 27th. The search has now been extended to the sea, more than ten miles away from where she first went missing. Commenting on the developments, Faulding said: "We’ve done very thorough searches all the way down to the weir. Police divers have dived it three times, extremely thoroughly. "That area is completely negative – there is no sign of Nicola in that area. The main focus will be the police investigation down the river, which leads out to the estuary. "If Nicola was in that river I would have found her – I guarantee you that – and she’s not in that section of the river." https://twitter.com/CapitalLivNews/status/1623328254802251777?s=20&t=QaY4EBFT8Qn0WlmM-TJhrQ Faulding said he will call off his underwater search team from the Specialist Group International (SGI) later today after searching a small patch of the river once more. He admitted to being baffled by the case, adding: "Normally we find them, this is an unusual situation. And hopefully, Nicola will appear somewhere or pop up somewhere, I don’t know. "I’m totally baffled by this one, to be honest." A family friend has since admitted doubts over the working hypothesis on how she disappeared. Heather Gibbons has joined Bulley's family and friends in questioning Lancashire Police's theory that she may have fallen into the River Wyre. She told MailOnline: "It's natural for everyone to have speculation, because the truth is, in this, nothing is making sense." Related links:

• Head of dive squad searching for Nicola Bulley thinks 'something's not right'
• Nicola Bulley's friend shares 11 key points to 'set the record straight' over disappearance
• Nicola Bulley bombshell as forensic expert brands investigation ‘a mess’