Nicola Bulley cops give update on new search of River Wyre and say they are NOT looking for any items

NICOLA Bulley police have shot down claims they are searching for a specific object in the river where the tragic mum was found.

Specialist divers were seen searching the River Wyre this week to try confirm her cause of death.

Nicola’s body was found in the river on February 20 three weeks after she vanished.

There was speculation officers were searching for a specific item in the water but Lancashire Police quashed the rumour today.

A statement said: “There has been misinformed speculation over the past few days relating to police activity in the River Wyre.

“As previously stated, police divers were acting under instruction of HM Senior Coroner and had been asked to assess the riverbanks in the vicinity of where Nicola Bulley went missing.

“They had not been tasked either to perform any further searches within the river or along the banks or to locate any articles. This activity is to assist with the coronial process.”

While HM Senior Coroner, Dr James Adeley, added: “Speculation as to the role and purpose of officers acting on my instructions is unhelpful in the resolution of this inquest.”

An inquest into Nicola’s death is to be heard on Monday, June 26 at County Hall in Preston.

Nicola was discovered on the banks of the River Wyre on Sunday – 23 days after she vanished.

She was found by two dog walkers less than a mile from where she was last seen.

An inquest opened and adjourned into her death previously confirmed she had to be identified by dental records.

Questions are now mounting over how police failed to find Nicola despite a “hugely complex and highly emotional” search.

The force also came under fire for disclosing painfully personal details of Nicola’s struggle with alcohol and the menopause.

They confirmed she had “vulnerabilities” at the time she went missing.

The police watchdog has launched a probe into a “welfare check” done at Nicola’s home just days before she vanished.

No one was arrested during the incident.