Friend shares images of missing Nicola Bulley on day she disappeared

The 45-year-old was last seen walking next to the River Wyre in St Michael's on Wyre in Lancashire.

The CCTV pictures show her loading her car outside her home on 27 January before driving her two children to school and going for a riverside walk.

Police believe she may have fallen into the river.

Specialist divers have been scouring the River Wyre, while volunteers have joined the search along with mountain rescue, sniffer dogs, drones and police helicopters, but no trace of her has been found.

Ms Bulley's family and friends continue to appeal for information on the ninth day of the search.

She is seen on CCTV wearing a long dark coat, leggings and ankle boots with her hair tied in a ponytail.

Ms Bulley was last seen by an acquaintance, who was also walking their dog, at about 09:10 GMT on 27 January.

She had logged on to a work call beforehand and disappeared shortly afterwards, with her dog and phone - still connected to a Teams call - found at a riverside bench about 25 minutes later.

Supt Sally Riley, from Lancashire Police, said they were "as sure as we can be that Nicola has not left the area where she was last seen and that very sadly for some reason she has fallen into the water".

"There is absolutely nothing to suggest from all the extensive enquiries we have made that anything untoward has happened to her or that there is any third-party involvement in her disappearance."

Detectives said they were open to new information and criticised online abuse of people who had been helping their inquiry as "totally unacceptable".

Ms Bulley's friend Heather Gibbons described some of the online speculation as "vile".

"I mean it's human nature - everyone's going to have their thoughts, their theories, everyone will be speculating," she said.

"But to see some of the vile speculation online - some of the theories that are incredibly, incredibly hurtful - I don't think people are realising that the family are sitting at home and are able to access and see all of that."

She said she was concerned that "as [Ms Bulley's daughters] get older, they will be able to look back and they will be able to see everything that was said".

Another friend, Tilly Ann, wrote on Facebook that "inappropriate comments" online had been causing "hurt and distress".

She urged everyone to show the family "as much positivity as possible please".

-bbc