Found Deceased UK - Nicola Bulley, 45, last seen walking her dog on footpath by the river, Inskip, Lancashire, 27 Jan 2023

[JumpingFrog]

Awww Willow

Personally, no. Never. My dogs harness is for her safety more than anything (it makes grabbing her easier). My dog rarely goes off lead, but when she does, I always just unclip the lead. Harness stays on until we're home and the walk is over.

Agree and general advice is to keep harness on dogs who go dipping - something to grab if they can't get themselves back out of water.
So I wonder if she was at or around the bench and let Willow off harness completely to go fetch etc

 

[cuecard]

Does anyone here use a dog harness and would you take it off during a walk or just detach the lead from the harness ? My dog wears a collar, which is left on, when off the lead.

I take the harness off completely as my dogs love to swim and so it keeps the harness dry-ish for the rest of the walk. I will say though where we go the pond is knee high so the chances of anything going wrong in there is slim. If I was on the beach or what have you, I'd likely keep it on.

 

[tedtink]

The last sighting is said to be on Garstead Road at 09:15. I'd be really curious as to whether she had the dog with her or not, and which way she was walking.

<modsnip - no source link for information stated as fact>
<modsnip - no source link for image>

The 45-year-old was last seen at around 9.15am on the morning of January 27, when she was spotted walking her dog on a towpath by the River Wyre off Garstang Road in St Michael’s on Wyre.

Nicola Bulley's phone found on bench by river as police search continues

Police indicated she had done a school drop-off before going on a regular dog walk

www.lancs.live

 

[Smccat]

Where has the info. about Nicola being on a conference call come from?

Missing dog walker was on work Teams call when she vanished

Here's one article about this.

 

[heartandsoul]

Missing dog walker has ‘little girls who need their mummy home’, partner says

Nicola Bulley, 45, went missing on Friday morning – with her mobile phone found on a bench near to where she was last seen by the River Wyre.

www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk

“But we’re very much hoping that we will find something to try to bring her home safe and well soon.

That is very interesting wording.

 

[Kentlydoesit]

If you were going after the dog, harness or no harness, you would need to take these things with you for when you recapture and secure? Not the phone necessarily, but certainly the leash and harness/collar or else what would you do once you had got a hold on them (not easy without something to grab in my experience!)

 

[Allabouttrial]

If you were going after the dog, harness or no harness, you would need to take these things with you for when you recapture and secure? Not the phone necessarily, but certainly the leash and harness/collar or else what would you do once you had got a hold on them (not easy without something to grab in my experience!)

If it was sudden and she didn't have the harness in her hand then it's possible she didn't think and just jumped up and ran after her dog.

 

[Teeniesmum]

Also, in that police conference. Did anyone find it a bit weird the Supt sidestepped the car question.

She was asked if NB had/could be driving a car of any description or something similar and the Supt sort of just closed her mouth for a moment and then said NB was last seen on foot.

Not - Her car is at home, she doesn't have access to a car, she doesn't drive, the car is yet to be located but looks like X, the car was found in a nearby parking lot, we are interested in this car seen in the area etc etc.

She just sort of... Dodged it without giving any useful information. Found that kind of interesting.

Eh, I'm going to put a small coin on Full Agatha Christie and hope I'm right - as that means everyone is okay, <modsnip - not victim friendly>

Yes, I picked up on this too....very strange. The tow path River walk is 3 miles from her home "I'm not aware of how she made her way from the village?" said the Supt, very odd. Nicola either must have driven, or got a lift (from Whom) they're either keeping this quiet or don't know. I don't think she'd walk all that way there, very odd, I'ts not that long since Julia James was lost walking her dog. I hope Nicola is found and my thoughts are with her family especially her children.

 

[ChocolateChip]

Does anyone here use a dog harness and would you take it off during a walk or just detach the lead from the harness ? My dog wears a collar, which is left on, when off the lead.

Maybe she didn’t want it to get wet if the dog was known to get into the water

 

[dotr]

Did they look the dog over to see if there are any unfamiliar hairs, fur, bite or scratch marks?
Maybe not a thing in that area, but the last few (pandemic) years, dog theft became a big thing, either to re sell or to breed, could something like that have happened and gone wrong? imo, speculation..

13 expert tips to prevent your dog being stolen

Dog thefts have soared to a seven-year high in the UK, according to new research

www.countryliving.com

2022
''As the number of dog thefts continue to rise in the UK, it's important for owners to know how to prevent their dog getting stolen and the preventative steps to keep their pet safe.''

According to new research, dog thefts have soared to a seven-year high in the UK, with 2,7600 pooches stolen last year alone

Dog theft: New criminal offence to be introduced to help crackdown on a 'worrying' rise in dognappings

Pet theft is to be classed as a new criminal offence to help crackdown on a "worrying" rise in dognappings reported during the pandemic. Stolen animals will no longer be treated as a loss of property under an upcoming legislation change in recognition of the emotional distress that comes from...

ca.sports.yahoo.com

''Pet theft is to be classed as a new criminal offence to help crackdown on a "worrying" rise in dognappings reported during the pandemic.''

Dog Theft | News, Videos & Articles

Dog Theft videos and latest news articles

globalnews.ca

High demand, higher prices for dogs leads to fears that missing pets were actually stolen

The pandemic has led many Quebecers to seek companionship by getting a furry companion, but as prices for dogs soar, some are fearing that missing pooches may actually have been stolen.

montreal.ctvnews.ca

Ruthless pet thieves are breaking hearts across Canada

Pet stealing is usually done for spite or profit, and culprits take measures to ensure the puppies are hard to track down

www.theglobeandmail.com

 

[Firstsnow4]

Yes, I picked up on this too....very strange. The tow path River walk is 3 miles from her home "I'm not aware of how she made her way from the village?" said the Supt, very odd. Nicola either must have driven, or got a lift (from Whom) they're either keeping this quiet or don't know. I don't think she'd walk all that way there, very odd, I'ts not that long since Julia James was lost walking her dog. I hope Nicola is found and my thoughts are with her family especially her children.

Yes I just realised that too - Inskip is south of St Michael on Wyre. In this article it states that they used to drop the kids to school and then take the dog for a walk Missing dog walker has ‘little girls who need their mummy home’, partner says there is a primary school in St Michael <modsnip - no link>. But as you say I doubt she would have walked 3 miles on top of that (6 if you include both ways). So must have used a vehicle. IMO.

 

[tedtink]

It seems that her dog did keep the harness on when taken off the lead even if it went into the water. Quite odd that it was removed at all on this occasion.

Thanks.
It seems the dog also wore a collar. Perhaps the lead was attached to the collar.
Maybe the harness was never actually put on the dog that day (NB carried it to the bench?)

I don't know of there's anything significant here, but without anything else to go on ..........

 

[shadwell]

Which is why I mentioned the ball. NB’s FB photos also show that the dog had a ball on its walks. And as anyone who has had a Zoom or Teams meeting knows, a large part of it involves sitting in silence listening to a middle manager drone on at length, providing an ideal opportunity to quickly retrieve a ball that has gone down the river bank when the dog refuses to go after it itself.

OTOH of course, if the lead and harness were attached to the bench, rather than on it as most sources suggest, then you are potentially in a “walk away” scenario, with the dog having freed itself some time later. Though in that situation I would still expect the dog to then attempt to follow in the direction NB left, rather than wait by the bench.

 

[ChocolateChip]

OTOH of course, if the lead and harness were attached to the bench, rather than on it as most sources suggest, then you are potentially in a “walk away” scenario, with the dog having freed itself some time later. Though in that situation I would still expect the dog to then attempt to follow in the direction NB left, rather than wait by the bench.

Maybe she lost sight of her dog and went to look for it. Dog came back of its own accord and waited at the bench

 

[Teeniesmum]

Yes I just realised that too - Inskip is south of St Michael on Wyre. In this article it states that they used to drop the kids to school and then take the dog for a walk Missing dog walker has ‘little girls who need their mummy home’, partner says there is a primary school in St Michael <modsnip - no link>. But as you say I doubt she would have walked 3 miles on top of that (6 if you include both ways). So must have used a vehicle. IMO.

yep, its odd for sure 6 miles is 2 hours average walking speed which on top of the river walk is a chunk of time out of your working day. If they both used to drop the girls off at school, it would make sense to drive and then drop off whoever was walking the dog that day and the other either continue to work either at their workplace or back working at home. As this was almost a daily occurrence, hopefully her partner or school friends, Mums or school staff will be able to confirm their routine or indicate any anomalies. odd though for sure

 

[StillDiggin]

Nicola Bulley: Partner describes perpetual hell over missing mum

Nicola Bulley's partner says "two girls need their mummy home" after she went missing on a dog walk.

www.bbc.co.uk

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[cuecard]

These cases always frustrate me because you know logically people cannot simply vanish into thin air and the only witness who probably knows exactly what happened is a dog who cannot speak/write etc.

 

[Lucy6226]

Pure speculation...what if the harness, phone and dog were placed at the scene to make it look liked she'd vanished on the walk??

 

[Firstsnow4]

Pure speculation...what if the harness, phone and dog were placed at the scene to make it look liked she'd vanished on the walk??

Definitely possible. She had been seen on the towpath that morning though so she was in the area.

 

[Alyce]

The alarm was raised when a friend found the springer spaniel, called Willow, running free beside the River Wyre, in the village of St Michael’s on Wyre.

Police then discovered her phone on a bench in the village. The conference call was still ongoing.

she had been logged into a team meeting since 9.01am on Friday.

“It seems as if she was muted and didn’t have her camera on. She was listening in whilst walking her dog,”

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