Found Deceased UK - Nicola Bulley, 45, last seen walking her dog on footpath by the river, Inskip, Lancashire, 27 Jan 2023

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That would be correct; our children enjoyed swimming in lakes, rivers, canals, or any other waterway they could find.
 
Sweeper2000 said:
Agree with the police. Raises two possibilities imo. Phone was placed on bench and deliberately left, phone was placed on bench and she had no opportunity to retrieve it. The police stated dog was found between bench and river, suggesting it was untethered at time of discovery, that’s not good. Dogs can’t follow scent near water suggesting dog stayed at last place the two were together. Doesn’t explain the lack of indication that she went in though.
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Sometimes if I'm on a conference call and I'm not expecting to need to speak anytime soon I'll put the phone down next to me or on a table on speaker while I do something else and then pick it up if I actually need to speak.

Good point about the dog.
 
One thing to also mention - when you connect your phone to a call like these they are battery intensive. I often have to be connected to a charger. You wouldn't get longer than an hour or two at max really on an iphone - although I dont know what phone she had.

Seeing the battery remaining they would of been able to identify how long the call had been connected and at least identified when she last made contact with that phone / touched it and was locatable to a location.

Point I'm trying to make, the person discovering the phone is quite a strong witness to any in the area, I'm sure the police are talking to them for sure. They most likely would of been there within the hour timeframe of all this happening - and as its down a pathway could possibly walked past something a bit earlier on.
 
Alyce said:
......had placed her phone on a bench, where it was found after she had been reported missing.

Her dog, Willow, was found about an hour later.

Superintendent Riley added: “People do go missing but clearly as time goes on we do become more and more concerned for Nicola. But we’re very much hoping that we will find something to try to bring her home safe and well soon.

Bulley’s phone was “in use at the time she went missing”. The fact it was found on a bench “doesn’t raise our suspicions at all” about the circumstances of her disappearance, Superintendent Riley added.


www.theguardian.com

Nicola Bulley: partner of woman missing in Lancashire describes family’s ‘perpetual hell’

Officers have found 45-year-old’s phone and say they are ‘extremely concerned’ after she went missing on Friday
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
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“ more and more concerned for Nicola. But we’re very much hoping that we will find something to try to bring her home safe and well soon.”

that suggests nothing has been found to suggest she went in.
infinit said:
Sometimes if I'm on a conference call and I'm not expecting to need to speak anytime soon I'll put the phone down next to me or on a table on speaker while I do something else and then pick it up if I actually need to speak.

Good point about the dog.
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That would be my guess. Not sure if the po po have said it was on speaker though.

I would guess if the dog has spent time by the bench that that is where it would return to. Say for instance she got into a car, the scent trail stops by the car and the dog would probably return to the familiar spot by the bench.
 
Dcflag said:
Is it a popular dog walking spot? How long could she have feasibly been in that location without being seen or come across by anyone else?
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Judging by the lines on the satellite images, I would say a very popular and well walked location.

Also a fishing club has rights to fish the stretch also, so very well travelled area.
 
I just watched the police press conference with the superintendent from yesterday. Others have made the same comment, it is odd when asked by a reporter how Nicola got to the river (by car etc) and she looks up like she is thinking and replies she is not aware how she got from her home to the area of the walk. I don’t believe that for a second! It would seem more believable if she said something along the lines of “we are trying to establish how she travelled there”
 
infinit said:
Sometimes if I'm on a conference call and I'm not expecting to need to speak anytime soon I'll put the phone down next to me or on a table on speaker while I do something else and then pick it up if I actually need to speak.

Good point about the dog.
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Yes used to do the same
 
GML1981 said:
I just watched the police press conference with the superintendent from yesterday. Others have made the same comment, it is odd when asked by a reporter how Nicola got to the river (by car etc) and she looks up like she is thinking and replies she is not aware how she got from her home to the area of the walk. I don’t believe that for a second! It would seem more believable if she said something along the lines of “we are trying to establish how she travelled there”
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Yes I agree it’s very strange. They live 3 miles away in Inskip so doubt she would make the girls walk that far to school IMO. She must have either driven there, got dropped there or used public transport. JMO. I wonder if that is forming part of their investigation? There has been no mention of any car, where was it parked, is it still left there etc?! Weird.
 
I don’t fully understand the placing of the phone on the bench. Either yes she rested it down whilst doing something else/potentially helping the dog. But if there was an emergency I don’t think people would necessarily leave it behind IMO. The amount of times I’ve been on the phone and something has happened and I’ve kept my phone in my hand almost instinctively in case I need to use it for help. but then again every scenario is different and I am a millennial! But when I’m mobile on conference calls I use headphones as carrying a phone listening to a call whilst having a dog on a lead leaves no free hands. And background noise (dog barks, trees in the wind etc) make it hard to hear and sometimes speak on a call. I wonder if she had ear pods in or headphones? These are often Bluetooth and traceable and even if they went in the water it would provide a clue to whether or not she went in.
IMO it could be that the conf call provided a distraction; the dog is used to getting in the water, she trusts the dog will be fine. She’s on the call, takes her eye off the dog, looks back sees it’s in trouble and panics leaving phone etc.
Just my scrambled thoughts! I really hope she’s found well.
 
My only theory on going into the water was that she stopped at the bench to make her conference call, took the dogs lead off to let it roam and when she noticed the dog get into difficulty, she put her phone down on the bench mid cal to help the dog and never got out again. Thus leaving the phone and lead on the bench.
 
If she has deliberately gone missing surely she would have just dropped the girls off at school and then carried on driving. Why would you take a dog with you and then leave it. It just doesn't make sense. Something really off about it. It all seems too staged to me. I just have a gut feeling about this and wonder if the Police do too but are trying to divert attention.
 
Hi, I'm new here. Me and my sister can't stop thinking about NB and what has happened. Think it resonates when you are mum's yourself. We are also very interested in sleuthing ourselves and regularly find us looking at all angles of incidents like these.

Many have shared the same thoughts we've had:
- Phone placed on bench, rather than being 'dropped nearby'
- Dog loose (I have spaniels, they occasionally run off, but they stay close if well trained and can get in and out of water without any cause for concern)
- This is a route known so well by NB
- For a woman to intentionally leave her daughters... people do, but there must be some strong evidence for abandonment if the police don't feel that it was an 'attack'
- Stranger attack would have left a body, think the case of the PCSO in Kent and Rachel Nickell in London... the dog stays close too.
- School calling... odd - my children's school wouldn't call unless there was some issue at drop off. A child worried or concern for mother's welfare at drop off?
- 915am there would have been many walkers, I walk my dogs every day and I see the same walkers most days at the same time. We dog owners are creatures of habit!
-

A point that I haven't seen mentioned 10 mins from last sighting (who was the witness incidentally; other walker? Driver on nearby bridge?) is RNAS Inskip; presumably with surrounding MOD land? Potentially harder to search?

Can anyone tell me, while distressing, we don't tend to see TV appeals anymore, is there are reason for this? Presumably it's down to family and police resources?
 
wens67 said:
If she has deliberately gone missing surely she would have just dropped the girls off at school and then carried on driving. Why would you take a dog with you and then leave it. It just doesn't make sense. Something really off about it. It all seems too staged to me. I just have a gut feeling about this and wonder if the Police do too but are trying to divert attention.
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I am glad to see someone type this message. The whole thing just doesnt seem right at all. If she was planning to leave, why walk the dog ? Surely leaving the dog at home would be a better idea ? The only thing i can think of is if something was mentioned on the call she was on and her head just went and it was a split second decision. I have just got this terrible feeling. The theory as well about her slipping and falling into the river doesnt sit well with me either, on the strava photos, Willow - the spaniel - is quite at home in the water. I wonder whether there could have been some difficulty with another dog walker ? No evident. JMO
 
wens67 said:
If she has deliberately gone missing surely she would have just dropped the girls off at school and then carried on driving. Why would you take a dog with you and then leave it. It just doesn't make sense. Something really off about it. It all seems too staged to me. I just have a gut feeling about this and wonder if the Police do too but are trying to divert attention.
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Yes I question whether they are trying to trick the perp by saying no crime etc. JMO.
 
in2thegate said:
I am glad to see someone type this message. The whole thing just doesnt seem right at all. If she was planning to leave, why walk the dog ? Surely leaving the dog at home would be a better idea ? The only thing i can think of is if something was mentioned on the call she was on and her head just went and it was a split second decision. I have just got this terrible feeling. The theory as well about her slipping and falling into the river doesnt sit well with me either, on the strava photos, Willow - the spaniel - is quite at home in the water. I wonder whether there could have been some difficulty with another dog walker ? No evident. JMO
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Springers are incredibly good at swimming.

Walking with a friend when younger - his swam across a large river and then ran off haha! We had to walk almost 3 miles to get to the other side and luckily someone had grabbed it!

Willow looks like a very well trained dog in the photos and the fact it stayed in the local area to where the phone was makes me think something isnt right with the water theory.
 
Firstsnow4 said:
Yes I agree it’s very strange. They live 3 miles away in Inskip so doubt she would make the girls walk that far to school IMO. She must have either driven there, got dropped there or used public transport. JMO. I wonder if that is forming part of their investigation? There has been no mention of any car, where was it parked, is it still left there etc?! Weird.
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Maybe someone is ‘helping’ her with a planned disappearance?
Police also said she had ‘links to Thornton Cleveleys’ and I wondered if that was a hint?
 
<modsnip> what if this was never the exact location she went missing and someone placed the phone / lead in that location purposely and let the dog off or dropped it there when passing as its the way to exit that field.

Just a thought why they haven't located her already in that area.
 
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