Lancashire Police are overall doing a "very good job" on the Nicolas Bulley case despite getting "some things wrong", Newsquest's Investigations Editor and former police detective, Mark Williams Thomas has said.

As part of the True Crime Newsquest podcast, Mark spoke to Lancashire Telegraph reporter Abigail Beaney on the scene.

Searches for Nicola have moved further down the River Wyre, opening out onto the sea, as nothing has been found so far.

Abigail also noted that there is no police conference planned to give updates over the weekend.

Police said it was still a “possibility” Nicola Bulley left the area by one path not covered by cameras which are crossed by the main road through the village, and officers were trying to trace dashcam footage from 700 drivers who passed along the road at the time she disappeared, around 9.20 am.

Watch the podcast live

You can catch a repeat of the podcast live stream via the YouTube video below.

Commenting on Lancashire Police's handling of the case Mark Williams Thomas said there are "some learning curves" for them but overall they've done "a very good job".

He said: "It's very easy for people to say 'you know Lancashire have got this wrong'.

"Lancashire has got some things wrong, there's no doubt about this, there are some learning curves for them, I think particularly in the way they've given their messages out and handled the media.

"But overall they've done a very good job, they are certainly working tirelessly to try and get answers for Nicola's family in terms of what's happened to them, and sometimes this takes time.

"There's nothing obvious on the plate for them. They've come up with a hypothesis, that's what they've focused on, I think we're seeing now that that will probably run its course.

"We'll get to a position whereby they haven't been able to find Nicola. I just hope that at that point that they look round and say 'maybe we got that wrong'."

When did Nicola Bulley go missing?

A detailed timeline of events can be found in our article here.

Nicola Bulley went missing on Friday, January 27 after dropping her two children off at school and as she walked her dog Willow by the river.

Her phone and Willow were found on a bench by the river and the phone was still connected to a work call.

Police are treating the case as a missing person inquiry and do not believe her disappearance was suspicious.