PRESS CONFERENCE
3RD. FEBRUARY
Superintendent - Good afternoon, and thank you for coming. I'm Superintendent Sally Riley, I'm the Operations Manager for Lancaster, Morecambe and Wyre. It's been a week now since Nicola Bulley from Inskip, in the local area, went missing. Her family, particularly her partner, her children, her parents and her sister are in real agony while she remains missing. And I want to pay particular tribute for their patience and dignity and strength at this time.
In the last 7 days since Nicola went missing, a week ago today, the police have done a number of enquiries to try and find Nicola and to bring her home to her family. In particular, the search is focused on the riverbank and the River Wyre, here in St. Michael's. An unprecedented number of search resources have been searching the river and the bank. This includes drone, the helicopter, police divers, sonar equipment, pole cameras, underwater drone and staff wading the shallower parts of the river. We've also had search dogs that are specially trained, in the area, from both the boat and the river bank, and this is included the area where Nicola went missing, but also upstream of where she went missing and the 15 km or so down to the sea. We've been assisted in this by the Coast Guard, by RNLI, by colleagues from other forces and the Lancaster area search and rescue and I want to thank them for their assistance.
Unfortunately, we have not still found Nicola but our search does continue. As well as the river search, we've also undertaken a 1 km physical search of the open ground in a radius from the point where she last went missing. This has included open ground, empty buildings and their gardens, to no avail so far. As well as search officers, we've had a number of uniformed staff in the area, officers and PCSO's receiving community intelligence and offering that visible presence to the local community to answer any questions and to allay any concerns. At the same time, a dedicated team of investigators, who often assist missing people enquiries, has been working on this, tirelessly. They have undertaken extensive house to house enquiries. They've checked numerous CCTV, dashcam and ring doorbell footage. They've traced and now spoken to a number of key witnesses. They have spoken to people in the community who have information about Nicola's lifestyle, her daily walks, and so on. All this has built up a really rich picture of data that's allowed us to have a very tight timeline, some details of which we've already released about Nicola's last whereabouts and what she was doing last Friday morning. I'm just going to take you through some of those.
- 8:43 a.m. - Nicola was seen on the river path, walking towards the iron bridge.
- 8:47 a.m. - She was seen in the lower field with her dog, Willow, and her mobile phone, which was on view.
- 8:53 a.m. - She sent an e-mail to her boss on her phone.
- 9:01 a.m. - She joined a team's work call. All of this was normal behaviour for Nicola. This was not out of the ordinary and nothing different or unusual happened during those calls and e-mails.
- 9:10 a.m. - She was seen in the upper field. The dog was off the lead, again, this was normal. The dog was not in it's harness and the lead wasn't on the dog, which was all part of Nicola's daily routine.
- 9:20 a.m. - Through enquiries we've made, we believe that her phone was on the bench.
- 9:30 a.m. - The team's meeting ended, but Nicola's phone remained dialled in.
- 9:33 a.m. - A witness found Nicola's dog, Willow, running between the gate to the field and the bench where the phone was located. Also found by that witness was the dog harness which was on the grass between the bench and the rivers edge.
Therefore, the time that we are particularly interested in is between 9:10 - the last confirmed sighting and at 9:20, when Nicola's phone was found on the bench... sorry, not found on the bench, Nicola's phone was on the bench believed to be on the bench found at around 9:33. The witness made numerous enquiries to try and find the owner of the phone, not knowing whose phone it was and, indeed, whose dog it was. That lead the witness to meet up with other people, who did recognise the dog as Nicola's and the school to which Nicola's children go was alerted at 10:50, as was her family. This means that we have only a 10 minute window in which we cannot account for Nicola's movements. The enquiry team has undertaken a number, as I said, of dashcam, CCTV and ring doorbell footages. This has allowed us to eliminate any trace, so far, of Nicola having left the riverside, which is really important. So we believe that Nicola was in the riverside area and remained in the riverside area. We remain open to any enquiries that might lead us to question that, but at this time, we understand that she was by the river.
Our main working hypothesis, therefore, is that Nicola has sadly fallen into the river. That there is no third party or criminal involvement and that this is not suspicious, but a tragic case of a missing person. This is particularly important because speculation, otherwise, can be really distressing for the family, and for Nicola's children.
In terms of what we would like from the public - I would like to thank them, particularly Nicola's friends, neighbours and the community of St. Michael's and the wider area who've come out in force to help in the search for Nicola.
I do have an update on the clothing that Nicola was last seen wearing and this is something that the public, who live in the area or who walk their dogs on the river path near to St. Michael's or downstream of St. Michael's towards Morecambe Bay, can look out for. They are:
- An ankle length black quilted gilet jacket.
- A black Engelbert Strauss waist length coat, which was worn underneath the gilet.
- Tight fitting black jeans.
- Long green walking socks tucked into her jeans.
- Ankle length green Next wellies.
- Necklace.
- Pale blue Fitbit.
It's really important that the public pay heed to those very specific clothing descriptions, please, because factual sightings of those items would be very useful to us.
We also appeal for any remaining dashcam footage that may not yet have been submitted to the police, in this enquiry. Particularly, if people have that relating to the Garstang Lane area of St. Michael's. Please can the public continue to report only factual information that they have and not speculation as to what may have happened to Nicola, because this is a distraction to the police enquiry and not helpful for the family. I would also appeal to the public to keep themselves safe in this enquiry. People going out at night in the darkness could fall into the river and face other hazards. Likewise, if they go out in boats on the river please only do so if you've got experience in doing that. We don't want people to be in danger.
Lastly, I'd like to underline the support given to the family. It is, as I've said, an agonising time for them. Nicola has two little girls, a partner, sister and parents, as well as many many friends and neighbours and well wishers in the local community. We are supporting her family with specially trained officers and staff and I'd like to thank the wider community for all the support that they've given during this very difficult enquiry. Thank you. I'm happy to take questions if there are any.
Reporter - Is there any data from the fit bit? With newer fit bit's you can track the location by using the phone.
Superintendent - Yeah. All the telephony and digital enquires are being handled by the enquiry team, so all of that data will be looked at.
Reporter - I know earlier in the week you were searching the river for signs that she'd fallen in. Did you find anything? Is there anything to support that hypothesis?
Superintendent - No, not so far, unfortunately not. That's why I particular appeal around any clothing that maybe matching the description I've given, that could be found, but nothing has been found in the river. I should say that the river is tidal below the Weir, so if you see repeated searches of particular areas of the river, it's not necessarily because we found something of note, it's because the river movement is complex and we are taking advice from academic specialists in water movement around currents and so on.
Reporter - Had she made any contribution on the team's call? Had she spoken or was it just on mute?
Superintendent - Not that I understand, no and, again, this was normal. It was a large team's called. She was one of many people on the call and I wouldn't have expected her to necessarily participate, actively.
Reporter - How was the phone known to be on the bench at 9:20 exactly?
Superintendent - Through telephony enquiries that we've done, relative to the phone itself, rather than through a witness.
Reporter - So it wasn't (
inaudible)?
Superintendent - No.
Reporter - Today we can see lots of Nicola's family has been out in force. Has anybody found any information out by holding up pictures of Nicola?
Superintendent - Not that I'm aware of, today. Clearly, the public are very well-intentioned and have given us a lot of information. Quite rightly, they don't know whether it is of particularly use or not and obviously we can judge that, can't we? but, so far, it's taken a lot of effort and diligence to go through all the information that's been provided and we'll continue to do that, right through the weekend and into next week.
Reporter - Earlier today, one of Nicola's friends said that (
inaudible) to hope because of the amount of calls the police have had. Can you tell us a bit about how many calls or pieces of information you have from members of the public? Have you got any idea about the number of... ?
Superintendent - I can't give you a number, but I know that there have been a lot of calls today. Clearly, 7 days on is a really good time for people to think back, particularly if they have perhaps a particular work pattern where maybe they might be working on a Friday or not working on a Friday. It's, again, Friday today and that will probably take them back to what they were doing last Friday. Were they driving through St. Michael's at around 9:15? Were they dropping children off? Were they going off to work? What were they doing last Friday that they might always do? That would be helpful for us to know if it's relevant to the enquiry.
Reporter - Can you just explain to me why you're so sure she didn't leave the riverside? Are there no kind of cross county routes? No other route, at all, that could have been taken?
Superintendent - Yes, several of the exits from the riverside area are either locked, or they're covered by CCTV. So we've been able to look at that CCTV and negate Nicola leaving the local area. The areas that are not covered by CCTV is where we've been particularly interested in dashcam footage. So that's Garstang Lane leading to the A586. If we can definitively cover off that 10 minute window, in particular, and a few minutes either side, then we will know definitively that she has not left the area because of the lack of footage or footage showing that she didn't pass by, but we are as sure as we can be that Nicola did not leave the area.
Reporter - So there's nowhere that there were cars parked so she could have been in a car, for example, (
inaudible) dashcam?
Superintendent - No, no, no. All the exits to the area that she was, as I say, are either locked, covered by CCTV or Garstang Lane - we're appealing for dashcam footage to cover that gap.
Reporter - Having seen the river it doesn't like like the kind you can fall in by accident does it?
Superintendent - At the point where the bench is located there is quite a steep drop, albeit, not high, it is steep and therefore, whilst I don't want to speculate as to what may have happened, it is our working hypothesis that she's entered the water accidentally and that's why there is no further physical evidence on the field.
Reporter - Can she swim?
Superintendent - She can swim, yes.
Reporter - How deep is it?
Superintendent - It's different depths actually, which is why we've had some staff wading the river and some staff underwater search. But, as they say, the sheer number, actually, an unprecedented amount of technical equipment with the sonars, the pole cameras, the dogs, the surface searches, the underwater search. It is really so very thorough that we have discounted finding anything in that immediate area, underwater.
Reporter - Are there any other factors with Nicola that may have contributed to the situation? Was she ill or was she taking any medication for any underlying medical conditions?
Superintendent - We're not considering... we've clearly considered the whole picture, but that is not relevant at this time, no, not at all.
Reporter - So just to check, the tiny window between 9:10 when she was last seen and 9:20 when the phone (
inaudible) on the bench?
Superintendent - Correct. So Nicola was last seen by a witness at 9:10 and the phone was back on the bench at 9:20 or thereabouts yes.
Reporter - (
inaudible)
Superintendent - Yeah. All of the timeline details, what the police have been doing everyday, what we're intending to do over the next few days is all relayed to the family so that they're kept updated and are aware.
Reporter - Why would you imagine that she didn't have her phone in her hand or in her pocket when she fell?
Superintendent - The dog was off the lead, this was normal for the dog to runabout and Nicola was on a team's call, which again, it would be normal for her not to necessarily participate in actively and just to have the phone to listen in, effectively.
Reporter - But you normally have it in your hand...
Superintendent - You do, you do, but anything could have happened with the dog, whereby Nicola may have gone, and I don't wish to speculate in that we don't know, but it is possible as the dog was loose and off the lead that there may have been an issue with the dog that led her to go near to the waters edge, she puts the phone down to go and deal with the dog momentarily and Nicola may have fallen in. So that is a possibility.
Reporter - The dog was dry?
Superintendent - The dog was dry, yes.
Reporter - The dog was off it's harness?
Superintendent - Yes.
Reporter - Which is normal?
Superintendent - Yes.
Reporter - Was there any chance the dog itself had come in the river or (
inaudible) working theories?
Superintendent - We don't believe the dog was in the river because the dog, we believe, was dry and the witnesses who were part of the timeline, that I've laid out, have not described the dog, for example, swimming in the river or jumping into the river. So we assume the dog didn't get into the river, but we don't know why Nicola may have entered the water, if she did.
Reporter - How long will the missing person enquiry be, the scale it is in terms of search operations?
Superintendent - Well, clearly a 15 km stretch of river is long and, therefore, our partners continue to assist us in that, so there are lots of things that we'll be doing over the weekend in terms of water surface and riverbank searching and our partners will be working with us into next week, but it's too early to say at this stage how long it will be.
Reporter - How confident are you that you can find Nicola?
Superintendent - This is a large rural area with a long stretch of river. All I can say is that we are doing absolutely everything possible. We are working tirelessly long hours with a very large team of both plainclothes and specialist uniformed officers to try and do everything we can to bring Nicola home to her family, but it is a very complex and challenging situation and we hope for a good outcome.
Reporter - The possibilities, as the way you said it, seem like limited, small?
Superintendent - Well, as each day goes on we become very much more concerned for Nicola's safety, but we have the best minds and the best trained officers available to us, as well as a number of very specialist partners, so every potential possible way of improving our chances of finding Nicola are being exploited.
Thank you.
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