NICOLA Bulley's disappearance could remain unresolved for months thanks to repeated mistakes by investigators, a former detective claims.
Martyn Underhill, who worked on high-profile murder cases including Milly Dowler and Sarah Payne, has accused Lancashire Police of making "glaringly obvious errors" over the 19 days since she vanished.
Nicola was last seen walking her dog along the river in St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire, at 9.10am on January 27.
She was reported missing after her phone, which was still connected to a work call, was discovered on a bench overlooking the water.
Police quickly said they suspected she had fallen in and launched an extensive search of the River Wyre.
But on the 19th day of the hunt there is still no sign of the mortgage adviser.
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Underhill, 65, said: "There are lots of questionable decisions being made within Lancashire Police, and if I was the Bulley family I would be asking for some form of external review to reassure me."
Here are three of the most stand-out "mistakes", according to the ex-cop.
1. Not containing the scene
Underhill, who served as a detective chief inspector in Sussex Police and later as the crime commissioner for Dorset, thinks detectives should have "completely and utterly contained" the scene after Nicola's possessions were discovered.
He fears the bench where Nicola's phone was found on the morning she vanished could be spattered with blood but forensic work wasn't carried out at the time and it could now be too late.
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He told The Telegraph: "That bench on that river in my view should have gone to a forensic laboratory.
"If Nicola had been attacked there could be blood spatterings on it.
"Sadly it’s still in situ. It is questionable to put it bluntly."
2. Wasting first 24 hours
The first 24 hours of a missing person investigation are the most crucial, according to Underhill.
He feels this "golden" period was wasted by cops on the Nicola case.
Underhill, who trawled the River Thames for Milly Dowler in 2002, believes officers should have been conducting door-to-door inquiries from day one and immediately "cleared the ground under their feet" instead of two weeks later.
He told GB News: "What you learn on big cases like Sarah Payne and Madeleine McCann is that there are mantras you have to stick to.
"The first one is 'respect the golden hour'.
"Forensic evidence and witness memory fade very quickly and you need to capture that in the first 24 hours.
"[Lancashire Police] don't seem to have done that."
He added: "These are glaringly obvious errors, which do not instil confidence."
3. Focusing on river theory
Underhill, who was a senior officer in the Sarah Payne murder probe in 2000, worries that Lancashire Police's focus on the hypothesis that Nicola fell into the river could have jeopardised the investigation.
He accused officers of jumping to conclusions and "putting all their eggs in one basket very quickly".
Underhill also said it was "equally staggering" that they declared no third-party involvement even after finding no sign of her in the water, according to The Telegraph.
He said: "The Bulley family deserve better than this.
"We haven't found Nicola and we could be in this now for the long-haul."
He is calling for another force to be brought in to "urgently review" the actions of the Lancashire team.
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Lancashire Police insist detectives remain open-minded about what happened to Nicola and are doing all they can to find out.
Anyone with information is asked to call 101, quoting log 473 of January 27, or dial 999 for immediate sightings.
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