Police search abandoned home near where missing Nicola Bulley’s phone was found

In a huge search operation to find missing Lancashire mum-of-two Nicola Bulley, police have now scoured an abandoned house close to where she was last seen.

Ms Bulley, 45, disappeared after she left her home in Inskip to walk her dogs on Friday morning January 27th. She was walking her pet Springer Spaniel, Willow, along the river towpath off Garstang Road, in St Michael’s on Wyre and was last sighted at 9.15am by a member of the public.

Her mobile phone was found on a bench connected to a conference call and her dog was left roaming loose close to the same bench by the River Wyre. Rescuers have searched an abandoned home located on the opposite side of the river and the site where she left Willow and her phone.

It comes after police confirmed today they have tracked down a man who they believe to be a ‘potentially key witness’, describing him as around 70-years-old, white, six feet tall and well-built.

He is said to have ‘spoken to a woman in the area’ before walking in the direction of Rowanwater. Lancashire officers are now speaking to him to see what information he can provide.

Police said previously there was no evidence of any criminal activity or that Nicola had been attacked. It is understood Nicola had dropped her two young children off at St Michael’s-on-Wyre Church of England Primary School, and leaving her car parked nearby, went on the walk with her dog.

Kev Camplin, of Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue, led a team of 25 trained volunteers on the day Nicola – known as Nikki – went missing. Speaking to the Mirror, he said: “The abandoned house is right opposite the bench on the other side of the river, over a 10ft garden wall. It’s quite posh.

“We didn’t go into the house. As a volunteer search and rescue team, we don’t actually go into buildings. We might go into a barn or something. We leave that to the police. While the team was searching the grounds, the owner was there for some reason, and we asked him to go in and he had a quick look around and she wasn’t there.”

The team used equipment including a pickup truck and trailer in-tow, carrying floatation devices. One of their Land Rovers, which stores medical kits, broke down during the search.

All the volunteers carry mountain rescue radios and are coordinated by an operator inside a control van with mapping systems. Kev said the team was contacted at around midday on Friday and he was at the search site within an hour, before they left at about 8pm.

“We probably searched a mile north upstream and then we probably searched three miles downstream. We covered quite a bit,” he said.

Kev said his team only gets called out to ‘high risk’ cases that are not considered dangerous; for example, suspected criminals on the run. “We only go to despondents, and suicidal cases and people with dementia – and people who are generally lost,” he added.

“Nicola lives in Inskip, about three miles from where she went walking. She drops her kids off at St Michaels and then apparently she walks eastwards to where the woods and the river are, something she does daily with her dog. So it’s not an unknown area for her, and it is a popular area for walkers and dog walkers alike. It’s actually quite a beautiful spot”, Kev said.

“Leaving the phone on the bench and then disappearing, it is quite odd. We don’t normally get that. Sometimes we go to a search, classed as a lowland search. You do get a car… where somebody has left their car. That’s the initial planning point.

“But her car was at the school and her phone was the initial planning point. Later we find out she was on a team’s work call. We didn’t know that on Friday. I knew the phone was there, but not on a work call.”

Police dive teams, fire service drones, search dogs, helicopters and mountain rescue volunteers have all been deployed to the area to carry out extensive searches. Officers say they are also supporting Nicola’s family and remain in close contact with them.