COPS are desperately searching the river where Nicola Bulley was found as they fear sleuths may discover crucial evidence before them, an expert has claimed.
Specialist divers were last week seen searching the water to try to confirm the tragic mum's cause of death.
Nicola's body was found in the river on February 20 – three weeks after she vanished
This week Video showed police combing through the water less than a mile from where Nicola, 45, was last seen on January 27.
And Lancashire Police confirmed coroners requested they re-search the river to get a "complete a picture" of how the mum died.
Now Dr Richard Shepherd, a forensic pathologist, has claimed police may be hunting missing evidence – and are in a race against sleuths to find it.
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Dr Shepherd told The Mirror: "They must have a reason to do it (the search) – my guess is there is something like an artefact of some sort that they are trying to make sure to find it
"My sense is they want to be absolutely sure that something they can't quite locate isn't still in the river.
"My feeling is they are looking for something specific.
"The last thing police want after the social media interest around this is for it to come out inquest there is something missing and then it gets randomly found by the public."
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An inquest into Nicola's death is to be heard on Monday, June 26 at County Hall in Preston.
Nicola's disappearance sparked a mystery after her mobile was found on a bench still connected to a work conference call.
An extensive search was launched to find the mum-of-two, involving police, firefighters, mountain rescue, underwater teams, and the local community.
Cops were forced to intervene several times as armchair detectives flocked to the scene to solve the death themselves.
The so-called sleuths' wild theories about Nicola's disappearance ran rampant online – and several arrests were made.
Nicola was deemed a "high-risk" missing person when she vanished due to a "number of specific vulnerabilities".
Nicola's pet springer spaniel Willow was also found – but there was no trace still of the mum-of-two.
Officers scoured wooded areas, ditches, water margins and the grounds of an abandoned house.
A specialist search was also launched by dive expert Peter Faulding, who used £50,000 sonar equipment to scour the water.He later pulled out of the hunt, saying he did not believe Nicola was in the river as she could have "stood up" if she fell in.
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