No.
There is absolutely nothing to suggest a cover up of any description, shape or form and no evidence submitted today even slightly leans in that direction.
She entered the water alive, she drowned and she died and the movement of the river moved her body downstream.
No indication ‘whatsoever’ of third-party involvement, says senior officer
Rebecca Smith, Detective Superintendent of Lancashire Constabulary, was also asked if there was any indication of third-party involvement in Ms Bulley’s death, to which she replied: “None whatsoever.”
Ms Smith listed the items recovered with Ms Bulley’s body including her FitBit watch and a set of Mercedes car keys. She added Ms Bulley was not using headphones that day to listen to her Teams call.
Ms Smith told the court Ms Bulley dialled into her work Teams call at 9.01am, which Ms Bulley did not need to speak on, so she was muted. This call ended at 9.30am but she stayed logged in until 10.32am.
Nicola was a ‘holiday swimmer’ so ‘almost impossible’ to swim against fast current
The coroner has said Ms Bulley was a “holiday swimmer”. It has previously been established the water flow on 27 January was a metre per second.
Therefore, Ms Dennison Wilkins said it would have been “highly likely to be almost impossible to swim against the current”.
The coroner said Ms Bulley would also be making this decision while trying to hold her breathe and not drown
Nicola Bulley may have had to hold breath for ‘one of two seconds at best'
Nicola Bulley may have only been able to hold her breath for “one or two seconds at best” in the river, an inquest into her death heard.
Cold water expert Dr Patrick Morgan said: “(After falling in) the heart rate goes excessively high, the blood pressure surges excessively high.
“The heart pumps no blood, and the brain switches off. The potential conscious time here quoted are optimistic... it is potentially shorter.
“On the occasion that the individual has taken that initial gasp on the surface of the water and then gone below, the duration would be 10 seconds that you could hold your breath, and very likely one or two seconds at best.”
Nicola Bulley died from drowning, inquest told
Missing mother-of-two
Nicola Bulley died from drowning and was alive when she entered the water, the inquest into her death heard.
Home Office pathologist Alison Armour, who carried out the post-mortem examination on the body of Ms Bulley, 45, said the evidence of water in her lungs and stomach led her to conclude the cause of death was drowning, and there was no other “third party” involved in her death.
Nicola could have entered a state of ‘very rapid incapacitaion'
The doctors said Nicola Bulley could have entered a state of “very rapid incapacitation”.
They said: “In the worst case scenario, you’ve replaced the air in the lungs with water, then you don’t have that oxygen available to you.
“So then you might have as little as 25 seconds of consciousness. But not all of that might be useful consciousness.”
The coroner summarised: “So the best case scenario is, someone of Nikki’s build and weight and in a water temperature of 3.6 degrees, would have approximately 48 seconds before losing consciousness and in worst case scenario it’s 1 to 2 seconds.”
Doctors explain how body entering cold water can result in drowning
Professor Michael Tipton and Dr Patrick Morgan are giving evidence on how the body reacts to entering cold water and drowning.
They explained cold water shock describes the initial responses to immersion in cold water, which involves a rapid fall in body temperature, increased blood pressure and uncontrollable breathing.
When someone initially enters cold water there is an “uncontrollable breathe of up to two or three litres”, they said, adding that at 3.6 degrees, the water would have “provoked a particularly powerful response”.
In Ms Bulley’s case, at a weight of around 50kg, she would have inhaled one to two litres at that temperature, they explained.
Hence, they concluded, “It would only take one to two breathes to cross the lethal dose into drowning.”
The lethal does is around 2 litres of water for someone of that weight, with the initial gasp potentially taking you into that territory.
‘Almost freezing’ water was flowing ‘twice as fast’ on day Nicola died
The court is now being shown a video of the section of river where Nicola Bulley was last thought to be on its bank.
Mr Thackray is in the video standing in the middle of the river and saying the stream is currently pushing him downstream at “walking pace”.
The water on the 27 January was flowing at a faster pace, he said, “twice as fast”. The water was 4C on the day in question, he said, “very cold, almost freezing”.
“If you fell in accidentally, cold water shock would have probably taken effect - which causes muscles to seize and you can’t swim properly.”
