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The diving expert who helped search for missing Nicola Bulley this morning revealed he was not asked by police to look in the area where a body was found.
Peter Faulding, 60, and his Specialist Group International team had scoured the River Wyre for three days after she vanished on January 27.
They found no trace of Ms Bulley, who is feared to have been located yesterday in reeds a mile from where she went missing in St Michael’s on Wyre in Lancashire.
But Mr Faulding – who is a registered specialist on the National Crime Database – said a riverbank and wade search would have been the only means to find her there. In fact, these were conducted by Lancashire Police.
His high-tech £55,000 sonar can only scan in the water and cannot travel through reeds.
Peter Faulding, 60, and his Specialist Group International team had scoured the River Wyre for three days after she vanished on January 27
Ms Bulley, left, see here with partner Paul Ansell, is feared to have been located yesterday
Diver Peter Faulding’s robust defence came as Former Scotland Yard Superintendent Nusrit Mehtab (pictured) appeared to back him
Mr Faulding said this morning: ‘Although identification has not been formally confirmed I would like to say my thoughts are with the family and friends of Nicola Bulley at this very difficult time.
‘The SGI underwater search team was tasked with searching the river upstream of the weir in the non-tidal part of the river, past the bench where Nicola’s phone was found and a mile upstream past this point. For three days, using high-frequency side scan sonar, we thoroughly searched the riverbed and can categorically confirm that Nicola was not laying on the riverbed on the days that we searched.
‘We did search the stretch of river where Nicola was [allegedly] found for four hours on our first day and then upstream past the weir on the subsequent two days. The police underwater search teams and land search teams were searching for three full weeks and were also unable to find Nicola. Unfortunately it was a member of the public that made a grim discovery, unconfirmed as yet to be Nicola.
‘Sadly, the discovery was not found in the river but in the reeds at the side of the river which was not part of our remit as the side scan sonar does not penetrate reeds above or below the water. A riverbank and wade search would be the only way to search this area and we were not involved or tasked with that search. The difference between these two search areas has caused a lot of confusion and unfair criticism towards myself and my team at Specialist Group International.
Peter Faulding appeared on Good Morning Britain today to talk about his team’s search
Detective Superintendent Rebecca Smith, the senior investigating officer in Ms Bulley’s case, seen at the site yesterday
Police officers walk past flowers and yellow ribbons tied to a bridge for Nicola Bulley over the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire, this morning
‘My previous comments saying that if Nicola was in the river, I would find her, still stand. My team and I at SGI did all we could to assist this family with only our best intentions. I am sure I can say this of everyone who has been involved in this difficult search.’
Mr Faulding’s robust defence came as Former Scotland Yard Superintendent Nusrit Mehtab appeared to back him.
She said ‘Some serious questions need to be asked about Lancashire Police’s decision making.
‘How did they miss that? There were three searches and a private search as well.
‘They didn’t share that information with the private search about the vulnerabilities, yet they went on to share it with the wider public.
‘They didn’t seem to be able to get a grip on what was happening.’
Ribbons and flowers are seen on a bench where the phone of missing woman Nicola Bulley was found
Peter Faulding, head of Specialist Group International, a private firm, spent three days searching a stretch of the River Wyre where Nicola Bulley went missing
Despite the best efforts of his team, after three days of searches, the specialist concluded that Ms Bulley was not in the river (pictured on February 7)
Police said they were unable to confirm whether the body recovered on Sunday is that of missing Ms Bulley at this time as they wait for formal identification to be carried out.
A spokesman said: ‘We were called today at 11.36am to reports of a body in the River Wyre, close to Rawcliffe Road.
‘An underwater search team and specialist officers have subsequently attended the scene, entered the water and have sadly recovered a body.
‘No formal identification has yet been carried out, so we are unable to say whether this is Nicola Bulley at this time.
‘Procedures to identify the body are on-going. We are currently treating the death as unexplained.
‘Nicola’s family have been informed of developments and our thoughts are with them at this most difficult of times. We ask that their privacy is respected.’
A tent has been erected and a wide cordon remains in place.
Police scrambled a huge search after the two walkers spotted the body. Detective Superintendent Smith arrived moments before police confirmed the heartbreaking discovery.
The male walker was seen ashen faced as he talked to police and pointed at an outcrop of trees and undergrowth along the bank, saying: ‘There’s definitely a body there’.
Forensic expert Peter Faulding had offered his services in the search for the missing mother-of-two Nicola Bulley before starting on the river on February 6.
He had committed before his team from Specialist Group International began that, ‘if there’s a body in the river, our sonar will detect it’.
‘I can find anything with that and if Nicola is here, I am happy that we will find her if she is in the river,’ he said speaking at the scene during searches on February 6.
The expert – who has worked on high-profile cases before, including the 2011 case of Kate Prout – repeated his convictions in other interviews.
But despite the best efforts of his team, after three days of searches, the specialist concluded that Ms Bulley was not in the river.
On Feburary 10, he shared footage of the motionless river as ‘proof’ that she was not in the water.
Speaking of the video footage, Mr Faulding added: ‘The log stayed at that point for 20 minutes, and it actually spiralled and went up six feet and came back to the same place.
‘The river on the day was slightly higher – it was about a foot higher – but I’d be very surprised in my experience [if she was there] as a body usually goes to the bottom very quickly.
‘If Nicola slipped down the bank, she would have landed in about 2ft of water but onto rocks, and she could have stood up.’
Mr Faulding was critical of police searches stretching to Morecambe Bay, as he believed it was ‘impossible’ for a body to have floated that far.
In an interview with the Daily Mail on February 11, he said: ‘I have this natural ability to find things,’ is how he puts it. ‘And if she was there, I would have found her.’
‘I’ve had some criticism, but I can hold my head high: all the high-profile cases I have worked on have been well documented.
‘I’m not a daydreamer, I speak from experience because I’ve been there, I’ve done it,’ he said.
‘I’ve helped countless families over the years who have lost loved ones in baffling circumstances, and I know that the “not knowing” is the worst thing of all.
‘If I can help with that in any way then I will.’
Mr Faulding described some of the conversations he had with members of Ms Bulley’s family, including her partner Paul Ansell.
‘I told him I had to be completely frank with him, and that 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.’
Although there’s no evidence for this, he later also suggested: ‘She could have run off with a lover, she could have walked from the bench to the main road and into a car. It may seem unlikely — but everything about this case seems unlikely.
‘It’s important to be upfront about these things, upsetting though it is. The cases I have worked on — you can’t rule anything out. That’s why I have been brought in.’
Mr Faulding asserted that Nicola Bulley’s case is one of the most baffling in which he has been involved.
‘In 25 years doing search and recovery, I’ve never had anything quite like it,’ he said.
On February 14, Peter Faulding told MailOnline that Ms Bulley would only have ended up in ‘waist-deep’ water if she had fallen into the River Wyre.
‘If she slipped down the bank she wouldn’t go far. The rocks would hold her in place and she’d only have been waist deep. She could have stood there and asked for help because people do walk by.
‘She’d have needed to be pushed extremely hard from behind to have launched herself into the deep water and experienced police divers have searched that thoroughly.’
And on February 15 he slammed police for not disclosing Ms Bulley’s ‘vulnerabilities’, including her battles with alcohol issues.
The search expert said he had conducted his search on the basis that she had fallen into the river and was frustrated that police had not shared that Ms Bulley may have entered the river in another manner.
Mr Faulding told Jeremy Kyle on TalkTV that: ‘If she had jumped in, intended to take her own life or walk off, that would change my whole plan.
‘She could have ended up in the sea.’
Speaking to The Times, Mr Faulding said: ‘I find it absolutely outrageous this was not shared with me.
‘It’s disgraceful and someone needs to take responsibility for this.’
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