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An expert investigator has revealed that while he was “happy” that the river had been cleared of evidence, there remained a possibility that missing mum-of-two Nicola Bulley had been caught in reeds that would would have prevented her from being detected. Speaking on a podcast after his involvement in the investigation, Peter Faulding, who has led the Specialist Group International (SGI), his belief that Ms Bulley was not in the river, but added she could have “potentially got lodged” in an area of reeds or rocks.

Police told reporters their “working hypothesis” is that Ms Bulley fell in the river – although her friends and family have stated that they hope this is not the case, with some urging detectives to treat at the case as a criminal investigation. 

On Sunday Express.co.uk revealed that private investigators SGI had volunteered their hi-tech services to aid the search, and on Monday the team set about scanning the river using world-class sonar to try and find Nicola’s body. 

However, the team’s leader Mr Faulding was sure it would not be there – and no evidence was found to suggest she was under the water. 

He told True Crime Newsquest: “The area below the bank on the steep bank down is about a foot deep and it’s got lots of rocks on, so on the day, you’ve got a realistic maximum probably three feet of water at the bottom of the bank onto rocks. So Nicola, if she had fallen in there, she would have hit rocks, or she would have slipped down the steps onto rocks.”

He added: “Now the next area we searched was an area over the weir which eventually leads into sort of a tidal area. Down there, there are various areas of reeds and things where bodies could potentially get lodged.”

He said these were not able to be picked up on sonar. 

However, the investigator then added that there were “not many” of these hazards, saying: “I’m quite happy that that area has been cleared as well.”

Yesterday Mr Faulding told LBC: “If I’m honest, I don’t think she fell in the water. That’s just my opinion, with all the drownings that I’ve dealt with over the years.

“[Bodies] normally go down. And the police dive team are brilliant – they know what they’re doing, they’re professional, and they would have found her, as we would have done.

“We locate people quickly. And that’s what I’m shocked with – that she’s disappeared.”

SGI experts brought a £55,000 sonar machine capable of mapping large areas of sea floors and river beds to the search, after a 10-day trawl by Lancashire Police proved fruitless.

Mr Faulding previously said the high-frequency equipment “can see every single stick and stone laying on the riverbed”.

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Lancashire Police Superintendent Sally Riley said at a press conference this week that investigators are chasing up more than 500 lines of enquiry.

She also revealed a total of 700 vehicles in the area at the time have now been traced, with the drivers now in the process of being spoken to as part of the investigation.

She said: “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.”

However, she said police still believe the mother-of-two fell in the river in a tragic accident, with police continuing to treat it as a missing person inquiry.

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