Nicola Bulley’s friend has rejected the idea that the mum-of-two could have fell into the water while retrieving her dog’s tennis ball. Emma White said there is “no evidence” that Nicola, 45, fell into the River Wyre in Lancashire after police confirmed their leading theory on Friday. Police said their “main working hypothesis” was that she had “sadly fallen into the river”. Search teams are still looking for the missing mum as her family urge the public to continue the manhunt.
Speaking this morning, Emma said Nicola no longer took a tennis ball on her’s and Willow’s walks because the pooch would “pester” her for the toy.
Emma told SkyNews: “Willow used to love a tennis ball very much but it used to disturb their walks so they haven’t had a tennis ball since way into last year.
“Obviously she loved the tennis ball so she’d always be by you, pestering you for the ball – but it wasn’t a nice walk when the dog’s pestering – so there was definitely no ball.”
Emma also said there was no evidence backing up the theory that Nicola has fallen into the river as it was based on “limited information”.
She added: “When we’re talking about a life we can’t base it on a hypothesis – surely we need this factual evidence.
“That’s what the family and us are all holding onto – that we’re actually no further on the sadly last Friday.
“We still have no evidence and that’s why we’re out again in force.
“You don’t base life on a hypothesis, do you? You absolutely can have hypotheses, but you need something to back that hypothesis up to make it factual.”
READ MORE: Nicola Bulley’s heavy clothing may have weighed her down in river
Partner Paul Ansell told friends he is “trying to be strong” for their daughters.
Speaking to reporters at the scene, he said: “My whole focus is my two girls, just staying as strong as I can for them.
“I’m scared that if I put focus into anything else it’s going to take my focus off that.
“Just hoping to goodness that anything comes out from the interview yesterday no matter how tiny.”
