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

[Tortoise]

I think there’s definitely more to this than falling in the river, look at where the bench is, it’s not a steep slope & the water wasn’t deep or fast running. I have a horrible feeling about this. Either close to home or a stalker who follows her social media.

I think it looks pretty steep and could be slippery in cold morning conditions with dew or frost on the grass






https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/...skip-mum-entered-its-fifth-day-4008800?page=3

 

[Kassanddra]

It seems on here we are all have VERY different opinions of whether it would be possible to slip into the river.
I am certainly to-ing and fro-ing on that one. It would have to be a fall and a knock on th head I think.

 

[youngsleuther]

I think it looks pretty steep and could be slippery in cold morning conditions

I don't think she's in the water because then till now she'd been found it's been 5 days after all. JMO

 

[Officer Dibble]

The wife of 70yo man says there was 3 people in the field that day from what her husband saw. So NB, 70yo and……???

Exactly! And? We will probably never know the answer.

 

[lji]

As an avid follower of true crime/resolved cases around the UK and also worldwide I can say that 99% of the time Occam’s Razor - the simplest outcome is likely the correct one - does prevail.

Yes we don’t have any evidence that she’s fallen in the water, but we also have no evidence at all (as far as the public are concerned anyway) that she’s been taken. It’s been 5 days, they would’ve scoured CCTV so if there were any suspicious people/vehicles there would be appeals out by now (theoretically anyway). What we do have though is a phone and dog lead placed on the bench where we know she last was, on a steepish bank that leads down to the river and also a dog whose breed is known to be loyal and most likely stay where the owner was last seen.
I am by no means criticising anyone’s thoughts or theories on here, after all that is exactly what this site is for. If we all thought the same then the world would be a very boring place!
I do personally believe that by some kind of accident she has fallen in the river and not been found yet but if proved wrong then I’d be more than happy to hold my hands up and admit I’m wrong.


I’ll post a link below to a young lad who sadly drowned in the river after a night out in the city I’m from, his body wasn’t found until 5 days later and it was literally only a few hundred metres from where they believed he entered the water. Different rivers/areas/depths I know but it still makes you realise they don’t necessarily always find bodies in waters the first time of looking. Being from the area as well, that river in that part of Exeter Quay is pretty still that time of year. I know circumstances are different and he was drunk, but yeah just thought I’d post it:
Popular 24-year-old found in Exe 5 days after drinking with mates

 

[Tortoise]

I don't think she's in the water because then till now she'd been found it's been 5 days after all. JMO

I've followed cases which have taken longer than 5 days for a body to make an appearance further along a river.

 

[Officer Dibble]

<modsnip - quoted post removed>

How deep is that river?

Many posts on the depth of the river in yesterdays posts

 

[in2thegate]

Missing dog walker's parents fear 'somebody has got her'

There a video interview on this article with a couple of her friends.

 

[ecology1]

My first post on here and have been reading about this case. I did wonder, if it was a weekly catch up work meeting she was on, if it is significant that it would've been the last one before the next Bank of England base rate decision (due tomorrow). *won't let me write longer message

 

[Tortoise]

I don't think she's in the water because then till now she'd been found it's been 5 days after all. JMO

I've followed cases which have taken longer than 5 days for a body to make an appearance further along a river.

like Anthony Knott's body was found three weeks later, 8 miles away How Anthony Knott's body may have ended up in Newhaven

Libby Squires was found 6 weeks after she went in the river Hull, ending up in the Humber estuary.

Hopefully this case will be solved faster.

 

[WhoIsThatGuy]

It seems on here we are all have VERY different opinions of whether it would be possible to slip into the river.
I am certainly to-ing and fro-ing on that one. It would have to be a fall and a knock on th head I think.

I would go a step further and say it would take one hell of a bang on the head. If she was allegedly there and slipped and fell and hit her head, I don't understand how that takes her into the river. It's not steep enough for her to roll into the river, she wouldn't gather enough speed/momentum to reach the river.

Even with the mental health/personal financial circumstances theories, why voluntarily enter the river? Surely the dog would follow. Mine would 100%

 

[rojo]

View attachment 399263


View attachment 399264

https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/...skip-mum-entered-its-fifth-day-4008800?page=3

if those people at the top fell from the bench/where they are stood then imo they wouldn’t roll all the way down and land in the river.

If she’s walked down to the rivers edge to retrieve something or check on her dog, then you can def see there’s a steep bank (maybe 2m drop?). That’s the only way I could envisage someone falling in.

Maybe there is an undercut riverbank there?

https://www.lakesuperiorstreams.org/understanding/images/streambank%20copy.gif

But surely the police would have found something by now?

 

[youngsleuther]

I've followed cases which have taken longer than 5 days for a body to make an appearance further along a river.

like Anthony Knott's body was found three weeks later, 8 miles away How Anthony Knott's body may have ended up in Newhaven

Libby Squires was found 6 weeks after she went in the river Hull, ending up in the Humber estuary.

Hopefully this case will be solved faster.

That perfectly makes sense but there are other factors that are to be considered like the depth of the river or even width as it is pointed out by one of the sleuths above.

 

[Wishingwell]

As an avid follower of true crime/resolved cases around the UK and also worldwide I can say that 99% of the time Occam’s Razor - the simplest outcome is likely the correct one - does prevail.

Yes we don’t have any evidence that she’s fallen in the water, but we also have no evidence at all (as far as the public are concerned anyway) that she’s been taken. It’s been 5 days, they would’ve scoured CCTV so if there were any suspicious people/vehicles there would be appeals out by now (theoretically anyway). What we do have though is a phone and dog lead placed on the bench where we know she last was, on a steepish bank that leads down to the river and also a dog whose breed is known to be loyal and most likely stay where the owner was last seen.
I am by no means criticising anyone’s thoughts or theories on here, after all that is exactly what this site is for. If we all thought the same then the world would be a very boring place!
I do personally believe that by some kind of accident she has fallen in the river and not been found yet but if proved wrong then I’d be more than happy to hold my hands up and admit I’m wrong.


I’ll post a link below to a young lad who sadly drowned in the river after a night out in the city I’m from, his body wasn’t found until 5 days later and it was literally only a few hundred metres from where they believed he entered the water. Different rivers/areas/depths I know but it still makes you realise they don’t necessarily always find bodies in waters the first time of looking. Being from the area as well, that river in that part of Exeter Quay is pretty still that time of year. I know circumstances are different and he was drunk, but yeah just thought I’d post it:
Popular 24-year-old found in Exe 5 days after drinking with mates

I agree. I live near the area and the general feeling is that she has accidentally fallen in the water.
There was another case a few years ago whereas a boy went missing close to the River Ribble. It was a few weeks later before his body was found, sadly.
I hope this isn’t the case with NB and she is found safe and well. Very sad for all concerned.

 

[WhoIsThatGuy]

Without it being proven 100% that NB was ever out on that walk with the dog on the path and with it not being 100% proven that it was in fact actually her NB who logged in to the work meeting at 9:01am, and without it being 100% proven with a solid witness or dashcam/doorbell/cctv footage that has seen NB that morning, and without it being 100% proven who actually took the children to school that morning, is it beyond the realms of possibility that NB could have in fact 'gone missing' the day or night before or in the very early hours of the 27th January?

 

[Firstsnow4]

I am still leaning towards foul play - I think we have to remember that she wasn’t actually witnessed at the bench! She was witnessed walking her dog. She may not have made it to the bench. As stated above depending on where the witness saw her she may not have got as far as the bench. If the witness saw her at the stretch between Garstang road and Allotment Lane, something perhaps then happened to her at Allotment lane (where there is road/car access - red asterisk on plan attached) then the dog and phone were placed at the bench after, but prior to the police arriving. So much emphasis is going into the bench but it actually hasn’t been said she was seen sitting on the bench. JMO.

<modsnip - no source link for image>

Source link for image is here Search teams looking for missing dog walker searched abandoned house

 

[Cuko]

Questions I'm still asking:

Who took the kids to school? I have not heard one person actually say they saw her at the school that morning. When my wife takes our kids to school she will be there for at least half an hour chatting to people, so someone would have seen her, even to wave to.

Was her car parked at the school or not?

The phone, lead and harness feel like they were meant to be found. Maybe to provide 'proof' she was there? The Teams call and the phone feel like red herrings.

The response by the person who found the dog. If they found the dog by the bench as reported they would have found the phone etc. If they found the dog elsewhere (running loose as also reported), maybe the school would be a good first call as
she probably parked her car there.

The response by PA when told the dog had been found was ringing 999?

The swift response by the Police. What did PA tell them that made them act that way?

Your last question is one that‘s been in my mind the most. I’m no expert, but my understanding is that police rarely take immediate action when a healthy adult goes missing. There‘s an initial assumption that the person may have gone somewhere of their own volition and has every right to do so. <modsnip - not victim friendly>

 

[in2thegate]

Do we know whether they are still actively searching the river today ?

 

[Dcflag]

Without it being proven 100% that NB was ever out on that walk with the dog on the path and with it not being 100% proven that it was in fact actually her NB who logged in to the work meeting at 9:01am, and without it being 100% proven with a solid witness or dashcam/doorbell/cctv footage that has seen NB that morning, and without it being 100% proven who actually took the children to school that morning, is it beyond the realms of possibility that NB could have in fact 'gone missing' the day or night before or in the very early hours of the 27th January?

I think this a reach to be honest. The police will know if she took the kids to school. There’s tons of witnesses every day that I drop my own kids off that could attest to me being there, let alone her kids are old enough to say.

The police clearly have enough of an idea that she was there to be pulling out expensive river searches almost immediately.

I’m not really sure why you think the 9.15am witness isn’t solid either? Police have established the last known sighting of her is 9.15am. It’s not being reported as a potential sighting. So that’s not a dispute, it’s a fact. It’s not unusual for police to appeal for witnesses, cctv, doorbell and dash cam footage, that doesn’t mean they have concerns about the witness, it means they want to build as big a movement picture as they can of where she went and on what timeline.

 

[Tortoise]

That perfectly makes sense but there are other factors that are to be considered like the depth of the river or even width as it is pointed out by one of the sleuths above.

Does anyone here know the depth of the river that morning at that exact spot below the bench?

There is a sign on the tree next to the bench saying DANGER DEEP WATER



'Perpetual hell' as desperate search for missing mum Nicola Bulley continues

""The river does get quite deep in some places, and the track is popular with walkers. People often park up on the Grapes pub car park and go for a walk."

"A large number of people from the local community have organised searches of the area. However, police have warned residents to 'stay safe' because the 'river and its banks are extremely dangerous' and present a 'genuine risk to the public'."