Found Deceased UK - Nicola Bulley Last Seen Walking Dog Near River - St Michaels on Wyre (Lancashire) #5

[Officer Dibble]

What makes you think that the North West Police Underwater Search & Marine Unit working on the case don't already have access to suitable equipment? ( They've only been established since - checks notes - 1974)

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<modsnip - not an approved source>

https://twitter.com/x/status/1622187052308512768

some of more of peter's claims to date

https://twitter.com/x/status/1622137717499772930

https://twitter.com/x/status/1621558043208024065

Says ‘investigators should have found some evidence by now considering how long ‘

"This is not a fast moving tidal river, I would have expected her to be found by the Police divers by now."
https://twitter.com/DailyMirror/status/1622183215858434049?s=20&t=b8AQtwU0kDL16dmofBzBiw

The man on the new link I gave, says he has a millions of pounds worth of equipment. I'm not here to argue whether he is better or not. He claims he is. I posted another news interview with him the day before, here, and in that he explained in more depth why he is better and how he can give result in one day. Again, I'm not here to argue, I'm here to give a heads up. MOO

 

[SanT88]

I'm confused. How is this relevant to this case?

It just serves to give further context to one previous comment regarding the area being used as a wild swimming spot which with further review may provide additional details of other possible lesser known routes to the location, the experiences of others who may have entered the water (albeit recreationally) and potentially locating other such spots along the river giving a further understanding of the makeup of the river under water.
I was just looking to explore more avenues and angles of peripheral information that may assist in thought process. As it seems there’s a lot of going around in circles IMO at the moment with the limited information given.

 

[IKnowNowt]

I apologize if these have been asked and answered, the thread has taken off since I last posted. It doesn't look to me that the river is swift, fast moving where the bench/phone were found, and that one would be able to climb out if they were able bodied? Does anyone know how deep it is there where the bench is? In the article linked further back up the thread, her mum said she was a strong swimmer. Am I missing something, the river doesn't look that treacherous if she fell in?

The St Michael’s Angling Association described the stretch of water as "very dangerous".

 

[dotr]

Glad that the Ws Mods keep on top of this sort of thing!
ribm (respectfully initialed by me)

Vile speculation hurtful to Nicola Bulley's family, friend says

Nicola Bulley’s friend says speculation online is hurtful as police condemn social media abuse.

www.bbc.com

Feb 5 2023
''Ms Bulley's disappearance has drawn a lot of attention on social media with thousands of people commenting on the ongoing search, many sending their love and prayers to her family and wishing her home safely.
But some people have been speculating about what might have happened by discussing the family's finances and relationships.

Ms G told BBC North West Tonight: "The speculation is massive. I mean it's human nature - everyone's going to have their thoughts, their theories, everyone will be speculating.
"But to see some of the vile speculation online - some of the theories that are incredibly, incredibly hurtful - I don't think people are realising that the family are sitting at home and are able to access and see all of that."
She said she was concerned that "as [Ms Bulley's daughters] get older, they will be able to look back and they will be able to see everything that was said".

''Ms Bulley's friend, T A wrote on Facebook that "inappropriate comments" online had been causing "hurt and distress".
She said Ms Bulley was an "incredibly strong swimmer", she had not taken a ball out on dog walks for a while and would always remove the dog's harness at the gate.
Ms Bulley regularly had her phone on loud speaker and the dog had been dry when it was found, she added.
She urged everyone to show the family "as much positivity as possible please".

 

[maxnewb]

It's a really interesting theory with lots to think about. The one thing I can't quite grasp is what on earth would be so compelling in the river to cause somebody to put their phone down unguarded, leave their dog, pick their way down a slippery river bank on a freezing cold day etc. That bit I can't quite see.

A lots been made about a lack of a tennis ball on the walk as Willow gets so involved with them.

Hypothetically, what if Willow found a ball on their walk and was playing with it and it rolled down that hill. NB went to retrieve it and maybe the police have found a ball floating in the water further downstream ? They might now be trying to trace witnesses to see if a anyone saw Willow playing with a ball that day.

It's a simple theory, but plausible.

 

[EyeSpyU]

The reason I asked about the timing and phone calls is,

I read that the river at that spot by the bench is 15/16ft. There is a sign on the tree behind the bench warning “Deep water”, so it definitely is deep, for sure. Don’t forget the water would have been extremely cold causing shock if you fell in.

No you are correct, I looked back at the presser transcribe and Sally said school and family (assume PA) were contacted at 10:50am -

‘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.’


I don’t know if he went for definite as there have been many conflicting stories. One was stated as saying he made way for the river the minute he was contacted and then called police and others were he called 999 straight after receiving the call to say dog was found etc. but without the police giving us an exact time that part is guess work unfortunately. JMO

Thank you, that makes sense. However, whilst I’m of the mind that the police have it right that Nikki fell into the river, there’s a couple of things that confuse me. But firstly, do you know or does anyone else know how long Nikki usually took taking Willow for her morning walk? She must have left just before 8:30 to drop the girls off at school, and then she obviously did the walk with Willow as that’s been confirmed. But looking at the route it seems she was well over halfway through her walk so I’d imagine (but may be wrong) that she’d usually be home by about 10:00am. I may be totally wrong and she took much longer walks, but as a dog Walker myself I’d have thought she’d be back home much earlier than almost 11am.

So I’m just wondering if her partner called her phone asking where she was - if indeed she was late home?

 

[infinit]

The man on the new link I gave, says he has a millions of pounds worth of equipment. I'm not here to argue whether he is better or not. He claims he is. I posted another news interview with him the day before, here, and in that he explained in more depth why he is better and how he can give result in one day. Again, I'm not here to argue, I'm here to give a heads up. MOO

The professional way of going about it would surely be to reach out to them in private and ask if their services can be of use? Seems a bit crass to me to be doing the media rounds basically criticising the current search and advertising your company. I follow similar groups in the US and they certainly don't act that way. They're usually extremely respectful of LE and understand they're doing the best with the resources they have.

JMO.

 

[Allabouttrial]

It just serves to give further context to one previous comment regarding the area being used as a wild swimming spot which with further review may provide additional details of other possible lesser known routes to the location, the experiences of others who may have entered the water (albeit recreationally) and potentially locating other such spots along the river giving a further understanding of the makeup of the river under water.
I was just looking to explore more avenues and angles of peripheral information that may assist in thought process. As it seems there’s a lot of going around in circles IMO at the moment with the limited information given.

Thank you! Makes sense now.

 

[justicepeace]

Thank you, that makes sense. However, whilst I’m of the mind that the police have it right that Nikki fell into the river, there’s a couple of things that confuse me. But firstly, do you know or does anyone else know how long Nikki usually took taking Willow for her morning walk? She must have left just before 8:30 to drop the girls off at school, and then she obviously did the walk with Willow as that’s been confirmed. But looking at the route it seems she was well over halfway through her walk so I’d imagine (but may be wrong) that she’d usually be home by about 10:00am. I may be totally wrong and she took much longer walks, but as a dog Walker myself I’d have thought she’d be back home much earlier than almost 11am.

So I’m just wondering if her partner called her phone asking where she was - if indeed she was late home?

I don’t know, I suppose many factors would depend on this but below is a screen grab of one of her strava routes which is the same route albeit a bit further along from the school as a starting point. 37 minutes that day. She was on a conference call on the day of her disappearance of course so what is usually a brisk walk could be slowed down by this, JMO.

In regards to the phone call, we simply do not know. Common sense would say no as her phone was found at/on/near bench but that would depend if PA was told this when whoever it was contacted him, he may well have especially if she had 2 phones, one for work and one personal but as the police has not mentioned NB as having another phone (certainly not on her person) I assume she only had the one on her that particular day. And i am not really sure how it is relevant to any of this. He may well have phoned her before receiving the call to say the dog was left unattended and this was his reason for reacting quickly and was worried as she would usually be home.

 

[SanT88]

Thank you! Makes sense now.

No worries.

 

[LockHart]

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IMO, there was no cctv at the school. At least that was stated on that very thread a while back.

Doesn't seem to be any cctv anywhere where NB goes around the area. Eccept to cctv the woman in red And the lady in Yellow pushing the pram.

<modsnip - topic is off limits: Read posts #2-6 of this thread and The Rules>

 

[EyeSpyU]

I think this could have been the same person/contact. Meaning I think it is possible the daughter in law worked at the school and either contacted herself or passed the information to a colleague who made the call (such as the teacher of one of the girls or the secretary who usually makes some calls if they have one etc). Small village.


Sorry, I'm not following. How does the area where the phone was found indicate if the husband called said phone or not? It has not been said if the phone had any answered on unanswered calls from the hubby. And I don't think it was out of range?

Normally I'd think that as no phone calls were mentioned that there were none, but with the very scarce factual info in this case, I'm not making any conclusions like that.

I would’ve thought the first thing her partner would have done is call her phone when he got the news. She must have been in range when on the bench as she was logged in to her Teams meeting.

I am getting confused with the timings and phone calls, or lack of calls. Unless the police haven’t said.

I still am curious how long Nikki took on her usual morning walks with Willow. She left home before 8:30am which has been established, dropped the girls at school and then at 08:43 was seen in the field or going to the field. She sent an email at 08:53 and joined the Teams meeting at 09:01, albeit putting herself on mute while listening in.

I know the Teams meeting ended at 09:30, by which time Nikki had vanished, but what time did her partner expect her home, I wonder? Going by myself and other dog walkers I know well, morning walks usually last about an hour. They can last for over two hours, but that’s quite rare, so I wonder if Nikki’s partner called her to see where she was.

 

[Allabouttrial]

The professional way of going about it would surely be to reach out to them in private and ask if their services can be of use? Seems a bit crass to me to be doing the media rounds basically criticising the current search and advertising your company. I follow similar groups in the US and they certainly don't act that way. They're usually extremely respectful of LE and understand they're doing the best with the resources they have.

JMO.

Has he said he hasn't reached out to them? While I'm sure there are plenty of groups you follow who don't join the media circus in the US, there are still plenty that do. I don't believe this is a fair UK vs. US comparison.

 

[ginnyw]

Doesn't seem to be any cctv anywhere where NB goes around the area. Eccept to cctv the woman in red And the lady in Yellow pushing the pram.

<modsnip - topic is off limits: Read posts #2-6 of this thread and The Rules>

I'd be really surprised if there was no CCTV in the grounds of a primary school.

 

[Kk1982]

Sorry if I’ve missed it - do we know what kind of phone she had? If she had an iPhone and Air Pods, I think that the AirPods would have stopped working if she went in the water with them - if you go to ‘Find My’ on Apple, it tells the last minute a device is connected. If so, you would think it would give the time she fell in the water as the last connection time?

 

[Vadermom]

Hi all, I’ve been following this for a while but haven’t shared before.

Something that suddenly came to me is my past experience of my family dog chasing small mammals. These are relatively common on riverbanks, and something that perhaps Willow may have spotted and chased after, or even caught? NB may have run over to Willow to stop her from killing whatever she may have caught, tripped and fallen into the water? We used to walk our family dog next to a local lake and she would often go after river rats or water voles, and we would have to sprint after her to stop her from killing whatever she had caught. I once actually sprained my wrist falling after tripping over her trying to stop her, could NB have reached Willow who stopped suddenly and accidentally tripped her, causing her to fall into the water? I’m aware of the dog not having followed her into the water but she may have been distracted with what she caught?

JMOO

 

[kittythehare]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1622263625791455232

 

[kittythehare]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1622262158863093762

 

[Happygirlie2003]

The reason I asked about the timing and phone calls is,

I read that the river at that spot by the bench is 15/16ft. There is a sign on the tree behind the bench warning “Deep water”, so it definitely is deep, for sure. Don’t forget the water would have been extremely cold causing shock if you fell in.

I can’t help getting a feeling the phone was left at this bench in front of that sign on purpose as a deliberate pointer that she’s in the water ie throwing everyone off track of another possibility.

 

[Blamhappy]

It's a really interesting theory with lots to think about. The one thing I can't quite grasp is what on earth would be so compelling in the river to cause somebody to put their phone down unguarded, leave their dog, pick their way down a slippery river bank on a freezing cold day etc. That bit I can't quite see.

When I'm on my own somewhere open and remote, I often leave my phone for a few minutes. I sometimes take walks with my son at a local river bank, and I often leave my phone and his scooter by the river and have a shirt wander to look at something. I think things seem strange because we know that something bad happened, but I don't anything we know so far is out of the ordinary.