Nicola Bulley: Forensic expert Peter Faulding hits back at ‘heartless’ trolls who accused his underwater search team of ‘ulterior motives’

Peter, who was heading up the independent underwater search for the missing mother-of-two, said: “I have given my life to helping families looking for missing loved ones. My team and I don’t deserve this trash.”

An interview on TV news this morning revealed that online trolls accused Peter of having ‘ulterior motives’ for lending his assistance to the search.

The CEO of Specialist Group International travelled from Surrey on Monday, February 6 to carry out a highly specialist scan of the River Wyre, where Nicola Bulley went missing on January 27, over three days.

Mr Faulding confirmed the private search would be called off after one last area was examined on Wednesday, February 8.

The underwater forensic expert has attracted a lot of media interest, but insisted he didn’t seek out the publicity. Peter told Talk TV: “If I don’t give information then I get slated, so I’m damned if I do, and damned if I don’t.”

The underwater search team previously helped out in the search for April Jones, who disappeared from her home in Powys, Wales on October 01, 2012.

In response to the accusations, Peter added: “I suggest they come out and look for dead people under dark murky waters on a freezing cold night when they’re dealing with a drowning victim, and watch them get pulled out of the water.

“That’s my message to them. They are heartless individuals.”

Peter has also called for social media users speculating on the case to 'leave the family alone'.

He said: "There's so much horrible things that have been going on. [Paul’s] getting constant flack all the time.”