Nicola Bulley – latest: Father hopes for recovery three weeks after dog walker goes missing

“Nicola Bulley’s family just needs progress to give us hope”, said her father.

Speaking to Sky NewsErnie Bulley said “every day is a struggle”, adding: “(We’re) no further forward than three weeks ago.

“We just need progress to give us hope.”

Here is a clip of Mr Bulley speaking to the broadcaster in the first week of the search:

Nicola Bulley’s escape is being treated as a “festival” for the armchair detectives and gawky commentators who are disrupting the investigation, experts have said.

Experts fear the intrusion could jeopardize the ongoing police investigation, cause distress to Ms Bulley’s family and set a worrying precedent for future high-profile searches.

Our home affairs editor Lizzie Dearden the details are:

Unusually intense public scrutiny of the Nicola Bulley investigation is like “people wandering into the theatre” and a highly trained surgeon at work, a former Greater Manchester Police chief has suggested.

“I think the real issue here is, I think there’s a wider public interest issue with an investigation being carried out with this level of press coverage and social media coverage,” Sir Peter Fahy told the BBC.

“This is very unusual, there are probably one or two cases every few years that get this level of focus. And there is clearly a public interest in it. The police need the public’s help in providing information, the public need to know if something serious has happened in their community.

“But when it comes to the situation where every detail is crowded, this is like asking a highly trained surgeon to work with a huge public gallery, people passing by all the action and others wandering in. the theater watching what they’re doing.”

It is “disappointing” that home secretary Suella Braverman did not raise her “concerns” about the police’s handling of the Nicola Bulley case to the local police and crime commissioner, a former Greater Manchester Police chief has said.

Sir Peter Fahy told BBC Radio 4’s Today program: “I think it’s disappointing that she didn’t approach the police and crime commissioner about it, the person elected locally to oversee policing in Lancashire.

“I have seen no criticism of the fact that Lancashire Police have been very diligent in seeking many witnesses and eyewitnesses, mobile phone data, massive use of CCTV.

“That eliminates a lot of possible theories about what happened to this poor woman.”

A dog walker who found Nicola Bulley’s mobile phone on a bench before she was reported missing “knew something wasn’t right”, claims my colleague Jane Dalton reports.

The man, identified only as Ron, thought when he first saw the phone that someone had left it there while they went to relieve themselves nearby.

He was walking by the river in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire, close to where the mother-of-two disappeared on the morning of January 27.

But Ron said when it became clear that no one was returning the mobile phone, he picked it up, at around 9.35am, and saw a wallpaper image flash up showing Ms Bulley with her partner, Paul Ansell.

Ms Bulley, originally from Essex but now living in Inskip, was heading east along the River Wyre in Lancashire with her brown Willow sled when she left an office near St Michael’s on Wyre at around 9.15am on Sunday Friday 27 January.

At least one fellow dog walker saw her moments before she disappeared.

Joe Sommerlad he has a brief overview of the information being released as the investigation continues:

The disappearance of Nicola Bulley continues to haunt police and the public three weeks after the mortgage broker disappeared from an office in Lancashire.

Nicola Bulley’s neighbors have had to beef up their security as amateur detectives are sneaking into people’s homes.

Lancashire Police have repeatedly asked people outside the village of Saint Michael’s on Wyre not to visit and carry out their own searches after the 45-year-old mother disappeared on January 27.

But Wyre Council leader Michael Vincent said townspeople, particularly older residents, are “terrified” as they watch out for DIY inspectors. He said they even resorted to hiring private security firms to protect their privacy.