Found Deceased UK - Nicola Bulley Last Seen Walking Dog Near River - St Michaels on Wyre (Lancashire) #8

[Lady Stoddart-West]

'When Sgt Riley is asked if the bench should have been better preserved for evidence or treated as a crime scene she tells us that as the police arrived so fast the window was too short for anything to happen, so ,no need, effectively. It would detract from the beauty of the area and adversely interfere with the public's leisure time. '

where was that from @Lady Stoddart-West? I missed that comment - was it from an early press conference I didn'tt watch?

If you click on the link I posted you should be able to find it on the site here. Nicola Bulley: 'Lancashire Police re: Unacceptable speculation about disappearance' Etc.

 

[Italia]

Host can record the call - push record - but you have to notify everyone on the call that is happening.

It automatically notifies participants on the call

 

[LastSeenWearing]

NB asking her parents if they could just stay on as she had an important client coming through on zoom the night before she went missing. I imagine police must have traced this important client. It just rather reminds me of Suzy Lamplugh in 1985 an estate agent who went out to meet a client for a house viewing and was never seen again, NB has an important meeting with a client on zoom, next day she disappears.

 

[Mycroft42]

Where is the style in relation to the bench? Sorry if i've missed this in earlier posts

Immediately to the left of the bench in this picture on Anna Youssef ITV reporters twitter.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1622564742224044032

 

[wackyw]

I agree, who carries string around with them? Unless he found it on the gate/fence

DBM - mods telling me not to joke on missing threads. Understood.

 

[kev4pe]

Where did the witness at 9.33am find the dog? I'm sure earlier in the investigation they reported he found it running loose in the caravan park field.

 

[JosieJo]

Whilst I’m extremely grateful for his effort I am also horrified by his conduct throughout.

He has undermined the police at every opportunity - by all means he could raise his concerns to them behind closed doors but I’d expect PF to show a more United front in public.

I feel he should’ve took a step back from the media and allowed the police spokes person to give updates.

I agree ... have they pulled out earlier than expected? I thought maybe they would search almost to the sea ?
It seems most of the work done is around the bench area plus a mile or so either side ...surely after this amount of time it would have made more sense to look further down river ?

 

[WestLondoner]

what if a person wants to leave this life and misdirect a search party - set a scene and go in the river at a different point - why would they?

One reason would be to ensure that they weren't interrupted and prevented from doing what they were doing.

 

[rhino]

Rural people !!

Yep, horsey folk was what came to mind first!

 

[Officer Dibble]

Have there been any other cases where someone has fallen into a river and not been found after 10 days - with searches and divers being on the scene within hours of the suspected entry point, helicopters (possibly using infrared), sonar and then specialist sonar scanning of most of the river?

I know people don't get discovered after weeks sometimes, but in those cases are the response times as quick as here, with a suspected entry point, and to this extent with all this equipment. Just curious, as I haven't followed many other cases like this.

I know about Libby Squire, but I don't believe the river searches started as quickly as here or if the same technology was used, or how different (or more difficult) that river was compared to the Wyre?

the river was in flood when libby was missing.

 

[tigerowl]

I hate to disappoint all you dog lovers out there, but some people (like myself) are just not interested. If my fella came home and said he'd seen a dog loose on his way through the park, I wouldn't think anything of it. I'd probably be mildly curious if there was a mobile phone there too. I might think I would go check on it later when I had finished whatever I was doing, but I certainly wouldn't rush out the door.

This would only be different if we knew the dog and it belonged to someone close to me or someone I thought was vulnerable.

 

[FlyHigh209]

I've always wondered who put up the "dogs must be on lead" notice by the bench? It's not an official council type notice.

Wonder if its the same who tied the dog to the bench with string? The string seemed a bit odd unless its a more frequent occurrence in the area & to somewhat highlight a point.

 

[steelo]

Where did the witness at 9.33am find the dog? I'm sure earlier in the investigation they reported he found it running loose in the caravan park field.

The dog was found in an agitated state between the bench and the river.

 

[wens67]

If NB lets Willow off lead in that field almost every day, and there's a 'dogs on lead' sign by the bench, AND the nearby (adjoining?) campsite has a very strict rule about dogs on leads, I can see this being very relevant and a potential point of conflict. When considered alongside the fact that both the 9.33 and 10.50 witnesses were the campsite owners/family.

People get agitated about off-lead dogs, in my experience. Especially if they have their own dogs or livestock e.g. chickens. JMO.

Yeah free range chickens running about with dogs off leads could be a big problem. I have a cockapoo and first sign of squirrels, rabbits etc she is off although she is trained and comes back sometimes squirrels just make her blinded. If she saw a chicken running about she would definitely be after it and would probably hurt it although unintentionally as soft pallete. Cocker, Springers etc are bred for this to flush birds, game out etc, it's in their nature.

 

[ginnyw]

Rural people !!

Not this rural person! I can never find string in the house, let alone on my person when out walking.

 

[Notascreenname]

Be good if members who haven't been following this from the beginning, please go back and re read the threads before this one.



As the same topics that have been discussed at great lengths like where the dog was found, phone, clothing etc

 

[Belleville]

Yeah I get you, but ultimately this was deemed high risk from the beginning. There must have been a reason for that IMO, that is more personal to NB than to the location of her phone.

I was playing devil's advocate with my partner last night and we couldn't find a scenario where either of us would call 999 because a school phoned one of us and said they'd found our phone and dog by a river. We'd both first try other avenues, unless we knew the one who was missing had an extra risk element.

Didn't PA go down there looking first?

 

[SuzyQ70]

Immediately to the left of the bench in this picture on Anna Youssef ITV reporters twitter.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1622564742224044032

Ah I see it, was aware of the gate but not the style. Thanks for posting

 

[JeremyBentham]

It's a shame you can't pin information to the top of each page on these threads. I think it would save a lot of repetitive questions and it could be updated as we get more information. Like a "Sleuth Board" with all the facts so far. Not helpful to the case, but thought I'd mention in case there was such a thing.

 

[Lady Stoddart-West]

This is what has really concerned me all along ie the 10 minute window gap BUT it isn't a 10 minute window gap is it? If they know her phone was at the bench at 9.20 and it wasn't found until 9.33 that's 13 minutes and a lot of time if someone wanted to hit her over the head and carry her somewhere. It's also obvious now not many people pass that way if Willow was tied up at 9.33 at wasn't attended to again until 10.50am. So it's not beyond the realms of possibility that someone had a great deal of time to abduct her, especially if it's someone who has planned it. Maybe they also know how quiet the area is at that time of day so not much chance of being seen.

I find it strange that the person who found Willow at 9.33 just so happened to have a piece of string to tie Willow up with and if they saw the lead why they didn't use that.

In my opinion someone could easily have carried NB somewhere, laid low and then moved at the night time. For instance I don't think any Police searched inside any houses on that day because they weren't going down the criminality route. I also got the impression yesterday at the press conference that they were saying they hadn't looked in lots of properties other than where they had permission because they, would have to be looking at a crime to carry out forcible searches, by the same token no car boots etc will have been searched.

I also noted yesterday when asked about searching the sides of the river they seem to have relied on the general public and anglers etc to have been doing this further up the river. Surely if they think she has gone in the water they could at least have had organised searches further up the river looking for items NB was wearing etc.

Just my opinion, but they knew this was a 'tragic' rather than a 'criminal' case from the start, or so they said, possibly from phone data and the context that the public won't be privy to.

Not treating the bench as a potential 'crime scene' at the start because it's in a beauty spot, etc. Well, doesn't that speak for itself and tell everyone all they need to know? They knew immediately there was no abduction, three days ago, they said as much, whilst still being 'open'.

What if they find they are in an unprecedented position? What's the right thing to do, morally? Ethically? I think they are doing an excellent job in very difficult circumstances.