Nicola Bulley latest: police issue dispersal order for area missing mum disappeared from

Police searching for the missing mum will now hold the powers to break up groups causing a nuisance in the search area
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Police searching for missing mum Nicola Bulley will now have the powers to disperse nuisance groups that travel to the search area.

The search for Ms Bulley has continued after she disappeared near the River Wyre. The new powers given to police came after officers warned against people breaking into abandoned buildings to search themselves for the missing mother-of-two.

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There were reports that groups of people had travelled to Ms Bulley’s home village of St Michael’s on Wyre to film. Lancashire Police said that officers would be able to disperse people for the next 48 hours

It comes as the search expands to the sea after failing to trace her whereabouts up until this point. Search teams were spotted at the areas where the River Wyre empties into the Irish Sea.

The search for Ms Bulley has continued for 14 days. This includes an unsuccessful search by forensic expert Peter Faulding.

What did Lancashire Police say?

In a statement released by Lancashire Constabulary, a warning was made to people travelling to St Michael’s on Wyre. The statement read: “We can confirm a dispersal order was issued around 8.40pm yesterday (Wednesday February 8) in St Michael’s on Wyre.

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“This followed reports of individuals – from outside the area of St Michael’s – filming on social media close to properties.

Police have been given powers to disperse ‘nuisance’ groups causing anti-social issues around the search area for Nicola Bulley. (Credit: PA)Police have been given powers to disperse ‘nuisance’ groups causing anti-social issues around the search area for Nicola Bulley. (Credit: PA)
Police have been given powers to disperse ‘nuisance’ groups causing anti-social issues around the search area for Nicola Bulley. (Credit: PA)

“The order will remain in place for 48 hours and gives officers the power to disperse anyone committing anti-social behaviour. Two dispersal notices were issued, and a number of other people were warned about their behaviour.”

Lancashire Police added that the public should not be alarmed by a scaling back of searches around the area Ms Bulley is believed to have gone missing. They added that focus was shifting toward searching further downstream and into the sea.

What is happening with the search for Nicola Bulley?

Dinghies were spotted on the River Wyre as search teams stretched their search to the sea. Police have been working on the hypothesis that Ms Bulley fell into the river and have dismissed suggestions that she was a victim of a crime.

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Approximately 40 detectives are working through 500 lines of inquiry. The scale of the missing person investigation has been described as “unprecedented” by Lancashire Police.

The search continues after Ms Bulley’s family called on the expertise of Peter Faulding, a world leading forensic search specialist. However, his inquiry was not successful.

He said: “I’ve worked on some weird cases, but this is a baffling case. For someone whose mobile phone was found there, I would’ve expected Nicola to be found that afternoon by the police dive team, normally down in the water, but there was no sign of her.

“Normally we find them, this is an unusual situation. And hopefully Nicola will appear somewhere or pop up somewhere, I don’t know. But with that, I’m, I’m totally baffled by this one, to be honest. Normally a drowning victim goes to the bottom. There was a bit of flow on the river that day. But normally we recover them within a few metres.”

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