Two ‘suspicious’ looking men have been reported to police near Nicola Bulley’s usual dog-walking route with lead investigators now asking for the CCTV footage in a bid to track down more clues. Nicola went missing on January 27 while walking her dog Willow. She was logged onto a work call while on the walk, but her phone and dog were later found by a bench near the river Wyre.
Police have said they suspect Nicola fell into the river, but this hypothesis has been challenged by the missing mum’s partner Paul and the diver who helped with the search.
However, the investigation could move in a new direction after a man came forward warning of two men acting suspiciously close to a church and railway bridge.
The witness also said they saw one of the men in the vicinity of her usual route on the morning Nicola vanished.
A worker at the nearby garage has also said that police visited the business and asked for CCTV footage.
The Sun reports that they said: “Two smartly dressed officers came in following up, a man and a woman.
“They wanted the CCTV from the day before Nicola vanished and to take statements of any activity we had seen from that day.
“These officers were different to the ones in uniform, they seemed very assertive.”
The employee said of the church sighting: “I know who the witness is and he has already called police about what he saw.
“But he said he wanted to make sure they were chasing this up so I asked the officers about it and they said they were following it up.”
READ MORE: Nicola Bulley’s partner ‘does not believe she fell in river’
The worker said the unnamed witness saw the “suspicious” men on January 26 and then on January 27, the day Nicola went missing.
The worker added: “He saw what he saw and wanted to make sure the police followed it up.
“Whether them collecting the CCTV from the same day is connected, I don’t know.”
St Michael’s Garage has CCTV cameras looking over the main road running through the village, and it covers one of the key exit points from the fields where Nicola was.
Another camera looks over the country lane near where Nicola was last seen.
The church, meanwhile is close to the footpath which Nicola regularly used.
Having looked extensively in the river, police broadened their search for Nicola to the coast near Morecambe Bay earlier this week.
Nicola’s partner, Paul, has reiterated that he is “100 percent convinced” the missing mum is not in the river.
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He told Channel 5: “Extensive searching, you know, as you’re probably aware, has gone on in that river.
“The fact that the divers and underwater rescue team and all that were in that river on the day, and thankfully found absolutely nothing, in the part where you would have to presume is her last known location.
“Personally, I am 100 percent convinced it’s not the river, that’s my opinion.”
Peter Faulding, the diver helping with the search, is also adamant Nicola is not in the river.
He revealed this week that he had a “frank” conversation with Paul about the search.
Mr Faulding said: “I told him I had to be completely frank with him, and he needed to confront all options, hard though it was.
“Nicola was a pretty lady, she was a creature of habit, and she could have been targeted and taken.”
