Found Deceased UK - Nicola Bulley Last Seen Walking Dog Near River - St Michaels on Wyre (Lancashire), Jan 2023 #18

[pineapple23]

I agree that all possible information must already have been ascertained from Nicola’s body. The coroner would not have permitted the burial to go ahead if that were not the case. As I said in an earlier post, I don’t believe the retrieval from the river of a boot/jewellery/keys, etc could have any relevance at this point. My own opinion is that the only item of possible significance in the river could be a weapon. I emphasise that I have no info whatsoever to base that opinion on. It just seems a logical hypothesis in the circumstances. JMO

The police have now issued a statement criticising 'misinformed speculation' and saying that no items were been searched for.

Lancashire Constabulary - Nicola Bulley: Update from Lancashire Police and HM Coroner

The latest news and information for Lancashire Constabulary

www.lancashire.police.uk

 

[ayrshireguy]

"As previously stated, police divers were acting under instruction of HM Senior Coroner and had been asked to assess the riverbanks in the vicinity of where Nicola Bulley went missing."

"They had not been tasked either to perform any further searches within the river or along the banks or to locate any articles. This activity is to assist with the coronial process.”

Lancashire Constabulary - Nicola Bulley: Update from Lancashire Police and HM Coroner

The latest news and information for Lancashire Constabulary

www.lancashire.police.uk

 

[WAWAW]

"As previously stated, police divers were acting under instruction of HM Senior Coroner and had been asked to assess the riverbanks in the vicinity of where Nicola Bulley went missing."

"They had not been tasked either to perform any further searches within the river or along the banks or to locate any articles. This activity is to assist with the coronial process.”

Lancashire Constabulary - Nicola Bulley: Update from Lancashire Police and HM Coroner

The latest news and information for Lancashire Constabulary

www.lancashire.police.uk

So is this the first signs of a change in direction with their thinking. As far as I can make out they were searching downstream from the bench, which presumably then means they think she went missing away from the bench

 

[ayrshireguy]

So is this the first signs of a change in direction with their thinking. As far as I can make out they were searching downstream from the bench, which presumably then means they think she went missing away from the bench

Possibly went in beyond the weir

 

[WAWAW]

Possibly went in beyond the weir

It's looking like that now. A lot of people thought this at the time, I struggled with how she avoided being spotted, especially the busy road she had to cross

 

[Twistinginthewind]

"As previously stated, police divers were acting under instruction of HM Senior Coroner and had been asked to assess the riverbanks in the vicinity of where Nicola Bulley went missing."

"They had not been tasked either to perform any further searches within the river or along the banks or to locate any articles. This activity is to assist with the coronial process.”

Lancashire Constabulary - Nicola Bulley: Update from Lancashire Police and HM Coroner

The latest news and information for Lancashire Constabulary

www.lancashire.police.uk

Thank you for the quotes, @ayrshireguy

Seemingly the key words are "in the vicinity" since where they are assessing now (near where her body was found) is a mile downriver from the bench (near where searches started from), AFAIK, IMO

 

[Lincoln34]

Probably panting and pacing...just in an agitated state.

I think the word 'worried ' is vague. Had the words ,' distraught and highly vocal ' , been used that would put a different tenor on it IMOO

 

[kittythehare]

A spokesperson said: “There has been misinformed speculation over the past few days relating to police activity in the River Wyre.

“As previously stated, police divers were acting under instruction of HM Senior Coroner and had been asked to assess the riverbanks in the vicinity of where Nicola Bulley went missing.

Nicola Bulley police confirm reason for second river search

Officers were recently seen in the River Wyre near where Bulley’s phone was found

www.independent.co.uk

 

[ex-stat]

From watching the video, it appears someone needs to remind Lancs police where river banks are normally located.

Yes, because people always assess the river banks by floating in the middle of a river! And especially three months later after snow has melted and a massive season change. And they also assess them by diving, not on foot. Nothing to see here.

Surely they will not want to reveal what they were doing and will want to provide a vague generic sentence? Best idea in my opinion.

I bet they are annoyed with RS for saying what he did due to the headlines and speculation in the press.

I think they were information gathering and will leave it at that. I don't know what they were doing and it does not matter - we are all interested in the truth of what happened on that day, not which day the authorities were doing whatever technique to collect information.

 

[sunshineray]

Media report of police statement on their return to the river. They deny looking for something specific. They had been asked to 'assess the riverbanks'. Nicola Bulley police issue fresh statement over cops' return to river

From your link...

"...The force has called out 'misinformed speculation' regarding the reasons they were in the river - clarifying they attended the scene on orders of HM Coroner.

A Lancashire Police spokesperson said: “There has been misinformed speculation over the past few days relating to police activity in the River Wyre. As previously stated, police divers were acting under instruction of HM Senior Coroner and had been asked to assess the riverbanks in the vicinity of where Nicola Bulley went missing. They had not been tasked either to perform any further searches within the river or along the banks or to locate any articles. This activity is to assist with the coronial process.”

Assess the riverbanks? Why doesn't the coroner just walk the banks himself if he wants to assess them? "Ordering" the police to assess something that's subjective to the eye of the viewer seems ridiculous to me. AJMO

 

[Jubbababy]

From your link...

"...The force has called out 'misinformed speculation' regarding the reasons they were in the river - clarifying they attended the scene on orders of HM Coroner.

A Lancashire Police spokesperson said: “There has been misinformed speculation over the past few days relating to police activity in the River Wyre. As previously stated, police divers were acting under instruction of HM Senior Coroner and had been asked to assess the riverbanks in the vicinity of where Nicola Bulley went missing. They had not been tasked either to perform any further searches within the river or along the banks or to locate any articles. This activity is to assist with the coronial process.”

Assess the riverbanks? Why doesn't the coroner just walk the banks himself if he wants to assess them? "Ordering" the police to assess something that's subjective to the eye of the viewer seems ridiculous to me. AJMO

Likely adeley the coroner feels it’s beneath him…use already cash strapped resources instead!

 

[Cuko]

From your link...

"...The force has called out 'misinformed speculation' regarding the reasons they were in the river - clarifying they attended the scene on orders of HM Coroner.

A Lancashire Police spokesperson said: “There has been misinformed speculation over the past few days relating to police activity in the River Wyre. As previously stated, police divers were acting under instruction of HM Senior Coroner and had been asked to assess the riverbanks in the vicinity of where Nicola Bulley went missing. They had not been tasked either to perform any further searches within the river or along the banks or to locate any articles. This activity is to assist with the coronial process.”

Assess the riverbanks? Why doesn't the coroner just walk the banks himself if he wants to assess them? "Ordering" the police to assess something that's subjective to the eye of the viewer seems ridiculous to me. AJMO

Entirely agree, particularly with your last paragraph. It’s not unknown for a coroner, or perhaps a lawyer leading a public enquiry, to visit a relevant location in person. In a similar way, jury members have also been taken to visit scenes themselves.

 

[WAWAW]

Given the statement that they are searching in the area Nicola went missing, then I suspect the Coroner has concluded she took her own life but that he/she want to understand how it took 23 days for the body to be found given the resources thrown at the search.

 

[Interested_But_Confused]

The original activity in the river was focused on searching to find Nicola.

IMO, this more recent activity will be more along the lines of assessing how a body moves in the water, whether it could be carried over the weir, where it could have become snagged and hidden, which locations on the riverbank could be a possible location of entry into the water, etc. Exactly the sort of thing a coroner would want to know when considering the likelihood of different scenarios.

It won't necessarily help them figure out what *did* happen (I, too, feel it's likely to be an open verdict) but it can help rule out things that couldn't have happened.

Should some of this have been done earlier? Maybe. But hindsight is 20/20.

 

[Cuko]

Given the statement that they are searching in the area Nicola went missing, then I suspect the Coroner has concluded she took her own life but that he/she want to understand how it took 23 days for the body to be found given the resources thrown at the search.

What is your reasoning for thinking that the coroner may have concluded Nicola took her own life? Am I missing something?

 

[WAWAW]

What is your reasoning for thinking that the coroner may have concluded Nicola took her own life? Am I missing something?

The statement from the Police indicates they were searching the riverbank of the vicinity she went missing from.
Given the search was downstream of the weir and not at the bench, then it indicates she left the locality of the field the bench was in leaving Willow behind and I can't then see how that was an accident.
It's a conclusion a lot of people have thought to be more likely, how they've established the area she entered the water I don't know other than the data from fitbit

 

[kittythehare]

The statement from the Police indicates they were searching the riverbank of the vicinity she went missing from.
Given the search was downstream of the weir and not at the bench, then it indicates she left the locality of the field the bench was in leaving Willow behind and I can't then see how that was an accident.
It's a conclusion a lot of people have thought to be more likely, how they've established the area she entered the water I don't know other than the data from fitbit

They are carrying out an assessment on the river bank is what the article and statement says.
That is NOT a search.
Nor is it an indicator of suicide, murder, accident or any other thing.

 

[WAWAW]

They are carrying out an assessment on the river bank is what the article and statement says.
That is NOT a search.
Nor is it an indicator of suicide, murder, accident or any other thing.

Sorry you are correct in that they are carrying out on assessment on the riverbanks in the vicinity she went missing. The general point still stands though, the area being searched is not in the vicinity of the bench and is much further downstream, from which we can only conclude she left the area of the field/bench after tying up Willow and walked downstream. These actions don't point towards an accident sadly.
To me this would make a lot more sense than the original hypothesis of accident at the bench as it explains the following:
1 Why someone very familiar with a dangerous stretch of water would fall in
2 Why her pet dog was "Bone dry"
3 Why the people finding Willow and phoned phone heard or saw nothing despite only arriving 13 minutes later
4 Why there was nothing from Nicola on the teams call and it continued on her phone after it finished

It also explains a couple of other earlier statements from the Police I found strange at the time.
They initially wanted information on her movements between 9.10 and 9.20, which I found strange given the accident was around the bench which had to be after 9.20.
The second thing (I'm not 100 per cent on this) is they asked for footage on Garstang Lane from 9.10 after previously indicating she was in the top field then.

This is all my opiniin/interpretation of the wording in the statement, but to me sadly it explains away all the oddities about the accident at the bench.
I so hope I'm wrong on this and it's found to be an accident, my sister took her own life just over 3 years age and what this does to families is truly awful.

RIP Nicola

 

[nao]

Moo...there are steps....to water..are they stone? Could of smucked her head on them? Being a dog owner.. definitely had some trip an falls from dogs. Moo

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

I imagine the coroner is going to leave circumstance that lead to death quite wide open. *If* they are satisfied that NB drowned in the river on the same day as she was reported missing - assuming that all forensic evidence points to that - then they would still need to comment on how she came to be in the water. Tripped and fell by accident, threw herself in for self harm reasons, threw herself in for different reason (can't imagine what), was thrown in by other/s. There was some talk as to whether N had gone off the bridge (the one with the memorial flowers and candles tied on).

Regardless, I don't see how anyone credible could put an explanation on any that when anything could have happened.

There's bound to be information we're not aware of so JMO MOO, let's wait and see.