Found Deceased UK - Nicola Bulley Last Seen Walking Dog Near River - St Michaels on Wyre (Lancashire) #3

[kittythehare]

Couldn't agree more. I see there is incident tape and a PCSO now appearing at the scene but rather too late to be of any use other than as a token gesture for visitors to the scene and the media.

They have confirmed in several tweets that the picnic table area had already been processed on the morning she disappeared.











Lancashire Police

@LancsPolice
·
17h

Replying to
@CANDY38948483
Hi there, to clarify we did evidence-gathering work around the bench when Nicola was first reported missing. The tape that has been put up today is simply to keep people away from the water’s edge while searches are continued. This is for the safety of divers.

 

[BDL1960]

It's quite sobering to think that exactly a week ago today at virtually this exact time, the life of Nicola and her family was about to change forever and no-one knew it. Seven days later, here we all are, hundreds of us, trying to work out what happened to her. Hoping for the best yet fearing the worst.

 

[todders]

Questions about Nicola Bulley's disappearance has spawned questions

This is new from the daily mail and worth a read in itself. Yet again asking a lot of the same questions as on here. IMO


7. Where was her partner while she was out walking their dog?

Paul Ansell, her partner of 12 years, works as an engineer and the couple often took it in turns to perform the school run and dog-walking duties. The 44-year-old is believed to have been at the family home when the call came through telling him Ms Bulley’s phone and dog had been found near the river.

8. Did anyone see her dropping off the children?

The car park next to the school is well used, although there are apparently no CCTV cameras. It was Ms Bulley’s usual practice to drop off her daughters at 8.30am and then walk Willow to the river, leaving the car near the school. They would have been visible to motorists as they walked along the pavement of the busy A-road, Blackpool Lane, for about 200 yards, past the village church, before crossing the bridge over the river and turning on to the towpath.

12. Could she have staged a disappearance?

On the contrary, Ms Bulley was said to have been ‘very upbeat’ and loving her life and her job as a mortgage broker, through which she had just won a new client. Only the night before, when she saw her parents, ‘her mind was great’, her father said. Her mother, Dot, 72, said Ms Bulley had recently bought tickets to watch her children in choir and gymnastics shows, and had excitedly been planning a spa day treat with her younger sister Louise.

 

[Kitaro]

Questions about Nicola Bulley's disappearance has spawned questions

This is new from the daily mail and worth a read in itself. Yet again asking a lot of the same questions as on here. IMO

Pretty thorough - obviously written by one of their more literate reporters.

Police seem pretty convinced its a slip into the river but with no apparent evidence of this. I hope they are collecting doorbell and other footage from all surrounding areas, because if they are wrong it will be a terrible miscalculation.

 

[Sarahlou]

From the latest Daily Mail article:

‘A local angler said that even as a strong swimmer, he 'wouldn't want to fall in' at the 'cold, dangerous' stretch of water where Ms Bulley vanished.’

This is the most logical conclusion by a long distance IMO after doing a lot of reading up on the story.

Agreed. Interesting to see an angler say that. I have flipped between thinking it was an accident, deliberate and someone else involved. I'd go with accident for now.

 

[Cluella DeVille]

Imo that's just down to the speakers, one is reporting what someone else said, one is the person who actually saw NB. I don't see a conflict
Jmo

Well only in the respect that, as written in the piece I'm referring to, it was one unnamed friend of NB who made both those comments. Perhaps I'm reading more into something that was just poorly worded. My thoughts were along the lines of was she actually 'seen' speaking to anyone?

 

[J-rock]

I wonder if the area has lots of wildlife? The reason I ask is because my friend’s spaniel is obsessed with squirrels and if he spots one, will be transfixed by watching it dart around. Could Willow have been chasing a squirrel, NB couldn’t see Willow, so went to check for her down by the river and then slipped, hitting her head in the process? It would explain why Willow was dry, because she hadn’t actually seen NB fall in? I feel sure that Willow would have jumped in after NB if she’d seen her enter the water, as spaniels are intelligent, loyal and protective. So perhaps something had temporarily distracted Willow? Just a thought…

 

[Hel44]

I'm still struggling a bit with why initially the police seemed pretty confident of no 3rd party involvement.

It may well turn out to be the case, but it sems a strange initial scene to me. Phone on the ground/bench still connected to the teams call, harness and lead on the ground/bench, loose anxious dog. Certainly strange enough to not be ruling anything out

Yes I agree completely.

Would it be so that the public don’t panic? Or is it purely financial, as it would cost more to generate a potential murder enquiry? Or do they need to wait until there is definitive proof before they can investigate or state that is a possibility?

 

[Batearedfreak]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed> It was deep where the phone was found. It's also tidal in parts so she could have been taken downstream towards the sea. There's also a lot of tree debris on the bottom that clothing could get snagged on, holding someone fast. I'm a scuba diver. Trust me it's not easy to find something in water where the visibility is poor due to sediment, organic debris and tidal stirring up of these things. Just because she was not easily spotted does not mean she is not in the water. Sadly.

 

[BDL1960]

Looking at the harness Willow is wearing in one of the FB posts it is one of those that the dog can slip out of if they wriggle in a certain way. The same has happened with our dog.

What if Nicola was sitting on the bench listening to the meeting (the phone beside her) but holding Willow on the lead with one hand. She doesn't want the dog in the water because:
a) She's busy on the call
b) It's deep water and there are warning signs
c) Willow isn't supposed to be off the lead
d) Its muddy and will mess up the car.

Willow gets bored and restless while Mum is on the call and starts pulling and struggling. Nicola pulls her back but the dog wriggles out of the harness and rushes towards the river. Nicola panics and gets up and rushes after him, loses her balance and falls in and can't get out and is taken by the current. Willow remains at the scene until the passer- by arrives...

 

[BDL1960]

Yes I agree completely.

Would it be so that the public don’t panic? Or is it purely financial, as it would cost more to generate a potential murder enquiry? Or do they need to wait until there is definitive proof before they can investigate or state that is a possibility?

At this point in the inquiry cost would not have been a factor. They would have dealt with this as a potential drowning initially and would have expected to have found a body by now. They would not have expected this to have developed into a major incident and the lead story on the news.

 

[Macha]

Yes I agree completely.

Would it be so that the public don’t panic? Or is it purely financial, as it would cost more to generate a potential murder enquiry? Or do they need to wait until there is definitive proof before they can investigate or state that is a possibility?

A partner is not a third party.

 

[BDL1960]

A partner is not a third party.

A partner would be described as a third party and although they are always the first one's the police look at, there is nothing here that suggests a partner's involvement.

 

[Sillybilly]

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[kittythehare]

Looking at the harness Willow is wearing in one of the FB posts it is one of those that the dog can slip out of if they wriggle in a certain way. The same has happened with our dog.

What if Nicola was sitting on the bench listening to the meeting (the phone beside her) but holding Willow on the lead with one hand. She doesn't want the dog in the water because:
a) She's busy on the call
b) It's deep water and there are warning signs
c) Willow isn't supposed to be off the lead
d) Its muddy and will mess up the car.

Willow gets bored and restless while Mum is on the call and starts pulling and strugling. Nicola pulls her back but the dog wriggles out of the harness and rushes towards the river. Nicola panics and gets up and rushes after him, loses her balance and falls in and can't get out and is taken by the current. Willow remains at the scene until the passer- by arrives...

my wolfhound can get out of that style harness, she leaves me with it and runs home if she sees a car... She's just a pup, well, one..
You should have seen my face the first time it happened..
She just knew instinctively how to move to leave it with me.. I was gobsmacked..

 

[Kitaro]

IMO they need to employ the best sonar equipment they can get their hands on now before it's too late - then they can either validate or dismiss the drowning theory. This story is front-page news and needs solving asap.

The video walk was an eye opener and a great idea for context - the area isn't as big as I thought, and the police should be totally open-minded about any occurrences at this time.

 

[BDL1960]

my wolfhound can get out of that style harness, she leaves me with it and runs home if she sees a car... She's just a pup, well, one..
You should have seen my face the first time it happened..
She just knew instinctively how to move to leave it with me.. I was gobsmacked..

Ditto!...and it can put the wind up you if it happens at a dangerous spot for the dog.

 

[San111]

Yes. Very steep, and stone steps at the bottom.
Most likely scenario for me given the timeline and the location of the belongings is that she made it back to the bench still on her call, was distracted by the dog, went to the bank in a hurry, lost her footing, slid down the bank, took a blow from the steps, became unconscious before entering the river, and is lost between the bank and the weir. That’s just based on available clues and the timeline, but seems very plausible.

I wouldn't call it very steep. By that I mean if you fell at the top you wouldn't roll down into the river imo. There's also a little flat bit before the drop off. If you fell near the bottom then you might end up in the river.

 

[Sarahlou]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1621426835597705217

 

[kittythehare]

Ditto!...and it can put the wind up you if it happens at a dangerous spot for the dog.

Bigtime.
I was looking closely at NB's harness and thinking it was a real possibility.. but she could just as easily removed it so dog could have a good run.. maybe something happened while the dog was on her run and she returned to find NB gone?
The phone is a mystery though because if it's a case of foul play one would imagine a perp would have destroyed it or taken it?

I don't know.
I don't want her to be in that river.
I don't want to see newsflashes about an ambulance being called to the site ..