The body was found just a mile from where the 45-year-old was last seen, walking her dog after dropping her two daughters off at school on January 27.

It was on an unremarkable stretch of the river, just past a slight bend, close to where a tree had fallen on its side with branches and undergrowth partially submerged.

The same stretch of water has been searched both by police and a specialist company since the mother of two’s disappearance, with nothing being found as speculation in the case hit fever pitch and amateur sleuths travelled to St Michael’s on Wyre in their droves.

Nusrit Mehtab, a former Metropolitan Police superintendent, said before it was confirmed that it was Ms Bulley, that an independent inquiry should scrutinise the police investigation, decision-making and “poor communication strategy”.

“Some serious questions have to be asked about Lancashire Police’s decision-making,” she told ITV’s Good Morning Britain. “If indeed that is Nicola, then how did they miss that? There were three searches and even a private search as well.

“They didn’t share that information with this specialist search team that they brought in about the vulnerabilities, and yet they shared that information with the wider public.”

Underwater search expert Peter Faulding, whose private company was called in by Ms Bulley’s family, found no trace of a body in the section of river they searched.

He defended his efforts in several television appearances yesterday, suggesting that the body may have not been found because it was “in the reeds”.

“The police have searched that area with sonar and divers for the last three weeks,” Mr Faulding told GB News.

“We spent four hours searching for Nicola in that strip of the river... we’ve done the best with our ability but it was not our remit to search the reeds, that was the land search teams.”

Officers announced during a press conference a week after Ms Bulley’s disappearance that they were working on the hypothesis that she was in the river, after the investigation found no trace of her leaving the area on foot, by vehicle or by any other means.

She was seen by a dog walker who knew her at around 8.50am, and Ms Bulley logged on to a work video call minutes later.

The last known sighting of the mortgage adviser was at 9.10am, when she was seen by a second witness.

By 9.30am, Ms Bulley’s work call had ended, but her phone stayed connected, and approximately five minutes later another dog walker found it on a bench beside the river, with her dog Willow darting between the two.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) could not comment on whether it would investigate any potential failures in the search operation. ​

Lancashire Constabulary referred itself to the watchdog on Thursday, but only in relation to contact they had with Ms Bulley on 10 January – just over two weeks before her disappearance.

“We are assessing the available information to determine whether an investigation into that contact may be required and if so, who should conduct that investigation,” the IOPC said at the time.

Before the discovery of the body, Lancashire Constabulary announced an internal review of the investigation, but gave no details of the probe’s remit.​

Nazir Afzal, a former chief crown prosecutor, said an expedited inquiry by the IOPC was needed to “restore public confidence in policing”.

“Clearly, questions will have to be asked about why the body wasn’t located earlier,” he added. ​

Police confirmed that they were called to a report of a body in the River Wyre at shortly after 11.30am on Sunday, and that an underwater search team recovered a person. (© Independent News Service)