Police say Nicola Bulley had 'number of vulnerabilities' when she went missing

Police looking into the disappearance of Nicola Bulley say they were made aware of a 'number of specific vulnerabilities' which were crucial in the early stages of their investigation.

During a press conference at Lancashire Police HQ, senior detectives said they have still not received a 'single piece of evidence' to suggest the missing mum was a victim of crime.

Speaking at the briefing, Senior Investigating Officer Detective Superintendent Rebecca Smith, said her main working hypothesis is that the mum-of-two went into the river.

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She said that as soon as Nicola was reported missing, following information provided by her partner Paul, and based on a number of specific vulnerabilities they were made aware of, Nicola was graded as a high-risk missing person.

"That is normal in a missing person investigation with the information we were in possession of," she said. "As any senior investigating officer does, you form a number of hypotheses, that is scenarios which are possible from the information to hand.

"Those hypotheses included the one that she possibly could have gone into the river, that there could have been third-party involvement and lastly, that she could have left the area voluntarily.

"Those hypotheses have remained in place throughout, are reviewed regularly. At the initial stages based on the information I received, I made it clear that it was my working hypothesis at that time based with all the facts that the main hypothesis I was working on at that time was that Nicola had gone in the river."

Supt Smith refused to give more details when asked about the specific vulnerabilities they were referring to. Referring to Ms