The detective who exposed Jimmy Savile’s crimes is joining the Nicola Bulley investigation. Mark Williams-Thomas said he will explore “all the options” and work to dismiss conspiracy theories circulating about what happened to the mum-of-two who went missing on January 27. The former detective said he would have treated the case differently from the start after police failed to secure a crime scene and thousands travelled to the area.
Mr Williams-Thomas, who also investigated the disappearance of Madeline McCann, will travel to St Micheal’s on Wyre to investigate the area Nicola was last spotted walking her dog by the River Wyre.
Police have faced criticism for not cordoning off the area in the immediate aftermath of Nicola’s disappearance, which could have held forensic evidence about what happened.
Speaking on the case Mr Williams-Thomas told the MailOnline he would be treating it as a “critical incident being dealt with as suspicious”.
He added: “Within 48 hours I would have treated this in the same fashion as a murder or abduction. I think police have been right to say they have an open mind – the problem that they have got is that they also said it wasn’t criminal.”
Last week police admitted Nicola could have left the area with someone after previously working on the hypothesis she fell into the river.
But after two weeks of searching the river, no evidence of Nicola was found and police moved their search to a wider area.
Now a witness has come forward saying they saw two men acting “very strange” near the area the day before Nicola disappeared.
The witness, who claims police took nine days to consider his call said the men seemed to “hide their faces”.
READ MORE: Nicola Bulley’s partner leaves moving message on yellow ribbon
Over the weekend Nicola’s friends and family left messages left yellow ribbons and handwritten notes on the footbridge near where the 45-year-old vanished.
“We need you home, Nicola,” “praying for your safe return” and “I love you” were among the heartbreaking messages left.
Her partner, Paul Ansell was also spotted tying a ribbon to the bridge after saying he is “100 percent convinced” she is not in the river.
Speaking to Channel 5 News, Mr Ansell said: “People don’t just vanish into thin air. It’s absolutely impossible. So something has happened. Find out what it is.
“There has to be a way to find out what happened. You cannot walk your dog down a river and just vanish into thin air. Something happened that day, something.”
Anybody who has seen Nicola, or has information about where she might be, is asked to call 101, quoting log 565 of January 30th. For immediate sightings, please call 999.
