The top police official leading the search for missing mother Gaynor Lord has confirmed that the police who probed the Nicola Bulley case were called in as there were “obvious parallels” between both cases. The mother-of-three, 55, has been missing since last Friday after CCTV footage showed her smiling as she left work early, and then running through the streets of Norwich.
Over the next few hours, her belongings were found scattered in Wensum Park along with her olive-coloured coat in a river that runs through it. She was last seen on CCTV at 4.01pm on St Augustines Street – which is an eight-minute walk from the park.
Top Norwich police officer Supt Wes Hornigold has said today that Gaynor’s disappearance has similarities to the hunt for Nicola, The Sun reports.
He explained that his force is working in coordination with the team of officers that scoured for the Lancashire mother because there are “obvious parallels”. Supt Hornigold yesterday revealed his force was “linking in with” Lancashire detectives to “understand any of the lessons learned” from the search for tragic Nicola.
He told The Sun: “We will absolutely, and have been, linking in with Lancashire Constabulary to understand any of the lessons learned from that inquiry.
“We have already had meetings with the National Crime Agency in terms of understanding any specific skills and knowledge in respect to water searching.
“We are cognisant of the recent College of Policing report into the Lancashire inquiry, so we are leaving no stone unturned and making sure we are doing everything within our power to find Gaynor as quickly as possible.”
In January this year, Nicola, 45, vanished near a river in St Michael’s on Wyre after dropping her daughters off at school. She had been walking her dog Willow at the time, and her phone and pet’s lead were found on a bench near the River Wyre. After three weeks of an extensive search, her body was discovered in the waterway
Police are investigating the missing of Ms Lord and are requesting people to come forward if they have any information. Police divers are currently scouring the waterway after saying they believe Gaynor “most likely” entered the River Wensum. They have revealed that the mother is classed as a “high-priority” missing person.
