The worried friend of a missing mum says she was "laughing and joking" just minutes before she vanished while walking her dog.

Nicola Bulley's springer spaniel Willow was found off her harness and lead on a path along the River Wyre in St Michael's-on-Wyre last Friday morning.

It's understood the 45-year-old's mobile phone was found on the ground next to a bench overlooking the water, which has an estimated 18ft underwater drop.

The friend, who wishes to stay anonymous, told the Mirror she has spoken to a pair who believe they were the last people to see Nicola before she went missing.

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She said: "They say she was laughing and joking with them as she went by."

She went on to say two other dog walkers later came across her phone and recognised the screensaver photo.

She said they were unable to unlock the phone and contacted a friend who then called St Michael's-on-Wyre Church of England Primary School, where Nicola had dropped her two children earlier that morning.

Partner Paul Ansell was contacted and raced to the scene from the family home three miles away in Inskip, before calling the police, the friend said.

"As far as I’m aware, no one called the police until Paul arrived," she said.

She went on to say, the dog walker spotted Willow as she came through a gate onto the towpath but became suspicious when she saw the harness and lead on the floor.

A man then came through behind her with his dog and spotted the phone.

"The gent has looked on the floor and two feet from the bench there’s a phone," she said.

"I think she’s either been faffing about at the edge of the river because the dog’s been smelling fishing bait and she’s slipped or she’s had a medical episode."

A large-scale police search was launched, which included 25 trained volunteers from Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue.

The latter team searched the grounds of a large country home across the river from the bench, which they believed to be abandoned, as reported by the Mirror yesterday.

The owner of the property arrived and agreed to search inside the house.

The friend said the home is subject to ongoing renovation work, dating back years, and is not occupied full-time.

She described how on Sunday morning local residents then met at the village hall, alongside Paul, at around 10.30am to organise their own search.

Paul is understood to have searched a different abandoned house in between the village hall and the Ivy Dene Alpacas site prior to the meeting.

The friend said police advised them to search upriver in a pincer movement.

In the afternoon, a second search of locals set out, with around 100 participants, which included the headteacher from the primary school, she said.

"Moving forward, between nine and three Monday to Friday the tennis courts at St Michael's are open and there are designated routes on maps printed," she continued.

"You can pick one of them up, they’ve got a QR code so you can log in and log out. The only condition to any of that is you must be in a pair."

The friend, who had walked the route with Nicola before, said: "I know that river well, walked it many times, I know where I can stand and where I can’t stand. She knew the same thing."

She added: "At the end of the day, all we want is her at home with her girls. If she could be at home with the girls, she would be at home with the girls, 100 percent, no doubt about it."