An expert diver from Sussex who is searching a river for a missing woman said there are "no signs" of her.

Peter Faulding, head of private underwater company Specialist Group International, flew to St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire, yesterday to help police in their search for missing Nicola Bulley.

The mother of two, 45, went missing on Friday, January 27, while walking her dog near the River Wyre.

Her disappearance has sparked national coverage as the search enters its 11th day.

The Argus: Nicola Bulley went missing on January 27Nicola Bulley went missing on January 27 (Image: Lancashire Police)

Mr Faulding and his team have been searching the river using sonar which sends sound waves into the river bed to create an image of it.

He said on Monday that after searching “three or four miles” of the river until it grew dark, there have been “no signs of Nicola”.

Mr Faulding told Talk TV last night his “gut instinct” is that Mrs Bulley is not in the river.

The Argus: Peter Faulding, CEO of private underwater search and recovery company Specialist Group International (SGI), in St Michael's on WyrePeter Faulding, CEO of private underwater search and recovery company Specialist Group International (SGI), in St Michael's on Wyre (Image: PA)

Speaking to Newsquest’s Talking True Crime podcast, he said: “The river is quite slow moving, it’s shallow in places and deep in places. It’s going to be a bit of a challenge with the sonar and moving the boat around in parts of it.

“We will be concentrating on the deeper areas.

“What we generally find in normal benign water, if people go down, they’re generally not far from where they went down.

“Let’s hope Nicola is not there and alive somewhere, but if she is in there then I’m totally confident we will find her.

“We would then put a diver in to find out what that anomaly is. Generally a body would show up as a body, I can see it very clearly. We deal with a lot of drownings unfortunately every summer.

“We find them very quickly using the sonar.”

The Argus: Teams using sonar in the River WyreTeams using sonar in the River Wyre (Image: PA)

Lancashire Police said: “Our working hypothesis remains that Nicola sadly fell into the river for some reason, but we remain open minded, and we are continuing to carry out a huge number of inquiries."

Mrs Bulley’s phone, still connected to a Teams call for her job as a mortgage adviser, was found on a bench on a steep riverbank overlooking the water, along with her dog's lead, with the dog harness on the ground.