Who is Peter Faulding? Diving expert called in to help with Nicola Bulley and missing toddler cases

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A diving expert who joined the hunt for missing mother Nicola Bulley last year has been called in to help find a missing toddler in Leicestershire.

Peter Faulding, 61, who claimed to have found Ms Bulley’s body within six minutes in the River Wyre, Lancashire, has been sought out to find two-year-old Xielo Maruziva.

The “creative little boy” has been missing since 18 February after he fell into the River Soar, Leicester, while out with his family in Aylestone Meadows.

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Mr Faulding claimed Xielo’s family had contacted him to request his help, but that his offer of support was ignored by police.

Now, Mr Faulding and experts from private company Specialist Group International (SGI) will join the operation after “further conversations with search specialists and Xielo’s family”.

But what do we know about him, and how qualified is he? Below we look at his experience with high-profile crimes and missing person investigations.

Mr Faulding began his interest in exploration at the age of five, when he would take trips to disused mines and caves with his father John.

His career took off in 1996 after he was tasked with safely removing environmental protesters from man-made tunnels under the proposed route of the Newbury Bypass.

The following year he removed notorious anti-roads protester Swampy from tunnels under the proposed route of the A30 Honiton Bypass before joining the Home Office’s ‘Policing of Environmental Protest’ group as an adviser.

He has trained members of the military and police search advisers in the UK and acted as a guest instructor with the US Secret Service, FBI and American military. He also served in the Parachute Regiment of the British Army for six years.

Now a confined space rescue and forensic search specialist, he has worked on high-profile crimes including the ‘Spy in the Bag’ case of MI6 agent Gareth Williams, whose naked dead body was found in a padlocked holdall in a bath in his flat in 2010.

One of the biggest missing person appeals Mr Faulding has worked on was the hunt for Nicola Bulley, who vanished into the River Wyre, Lancashire, last year.

He led a team of experts and divers to assist Lancashire Police in searching the river for the missing dog walker using specialist sonar equipment.

During the protracted search for Bulley, Mr Faulding did not shy away in his criticism of how the investigation was handled, describing the probe as “a mess” and claiming details in the case “don’t add up”.

His team was given two-and-a-half days to scan a three-mile stretch of the river, between St Michael’s and Cartford Bridge, using a sonar device – but the search came up short.

Mr Faulding then declared to the press that the 45-year-old was not in the river and suggested her phone, discovered by a dog walker on the bench near where she disappeared, may have been a “decoy”.

Bulley’s body was pulled from the River Wyre last Sunday 0.9 miles downstream of St Michael’s on Wyre. She was found by members of the public who alerted police to a suspected body.

He also helped in the search for five-year-old April Jones, who was abducted and killed in 2012. Hundreds of people participated in the hunt for the five-year-old but her body was never found, and only bone fragments were recovered. Mark Bridger was arrested and eventually convicted of her abduction and murder.

Hundreds of people participated in the hunt for the five-year-old but her body was never found, and only bone fragments were recovered. Mark Bridger was arrested and eventually convicted of her abduction and murder.

Mr Faulding also assisted with the case of Scottish serial killer Peter Tobin, who was sentenced to a whole life order at HM Prison Edinburgh for three murders committed between 1991 and 2006.

He has now become involved in the search for Ms Bulley due to his experience with underwater searches.

His first experience with sonar technology was in 1998, when he travelled to the US research using side scan sonar and ground penetrating radar to help locate missing people and remains.

Since then, he has pioneered the use of technology to search remote locations and underwater to locate human remains.

He is often brought in to assist on cold cases and complex ‘no-body’ murder investigations but outside of his professional work he lives in the country on a farm with his family.

A published author, he makes regular appearances on TV, radio and podcasts to talk about missing person cases and has helped to launch a water safety campaign with the father of six-year-old Lucas Dobson who drowned in the River Stour in 2019.

As well as a forensics expert, he is also a qualified commercial diver, helicopter and fixed-wing pilot and holds both UK and United States FAA pilot licences.

Away from his often grizzly day job, Mr Faulding posts pictures of his German Shepherd dog and his pet llamas and emus on social media.