Found Deceased UK - Nicola Bulley Last Seen Walking Dog Near River - St Michaels on Wyre (Lancashire) #10

[DaFroome]

I was confused the harness was off the dog on being found. Is tha tjust the type of lead? I'd have thought harness would stay on for easy reattachment of the lead after a run, or is that not right?

We’ve previously learnt that the harness is off the dog on walks. The tv interview tonight stated the harness was found on the ground halfway down the embankment. That is new information that realistically suggests an attempt was made to attach the harness half down the embankment between the bench and the river.

That’s a new scenario and suggests an accident.

 

[FlyHigh209]

I was confused the harness was off the dog on being found. Is tha tjust the type of lead? I'd have thought harness would stay on for easy reattachment of the lead after a run, or is that not right?

The pictures in the media I have seen usually have it on. Maybe it depends on the walk or if allowed to go in the water.

The one used here looks to be off & the dog wet.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[PeteG85]

Talking of Somewhere to hide something or someone..
Turnover Hall Farm, 1 mile away from the bench and jam full of caravans (if the site is still as active as it was when google earth shows).

If the 1km search area the Police have supposedly searched is correct, this would be outside that search area

 

[brownbeef1975]

Yep - this is what I mentioned earlier.

Not in river now does not equal never was.

 

[Rb1234]

I’m guessing PA’s car is on the drive on the ring doorbell footage until the time he left after the call from the school and the time frame isn’t long enough for PA to have snuck out the house and walked to where NB was and walk back by the time he was sending emails on his computer at home just before 10am. Feel very sorry for him with all this speculation.

 

[Belleville]

But when have you ever seen a documentary like this TWO weeks after someone goes missing?? It’s just strange IMO.

No. What are you suggesting?

 

[Nine Lives]

100 percent without a body or a piece of concrete evidence we are just going to go round in circles on here. There is nothing to suggest anything at the moment!! Just crazy out there theories I am not even convinced on my own

I'm not convinced on your theories either

 

[MachinaCollecta]

I find assertions about the way certain people behave really strange. None of us will act comparably in any given crisis. Calling police in a relatively short period of time from when you suspect your loved one has gone missing strikes me as far less suspicious than someone who waits five hours to do it, but sometimes that happens too. People operate differently.

 

[IspyWithMyBigEye]

Snipped for clarity :
The girls were having their breakfast and everything was pretty much ready to go. I came down, Nikki went upstairs to get ready.

"The routine is basically if Nikki is taking the girls and Willow, when I hear her come down, I'll get them in the car.

I thought the CCTV showed NB putting willow in the car?? JMO.

ETA - before anyone jumps on my post I’m NOT insinuating anything.

Just caught up with all this after watching the programme tonight. I guess P was putting the girls in the car and N was loading the dog. Makes sense to me.

 

[Googysleuth]

We’ve previously learnt that the harness is off the dog on walks. The tv interview tonight stated the harness was found on the ground halfway down the embankment. That is new information that realistically suggests an attempt was made to attach the harness half down the embankment between the bench and the river.

That’s a new scenario and suggests an accident.

Very plausible in my view that she wanted to avoid having a wet dog to deal with as she probably had meetings and work to do after the walk. Enough to be willing to run down the embankment to catch Willow. We know nothing of her day ahead and the fact that she was up early sorting out the kids suggests to me that she wanted to get a head start on a busy day.

We don't know anything about Willow, she might have dashed off and not looked back (as spaniels do) to see NB fall and hit her head.

There's too much conjecture around the water to completely write it off for me. Sonar and diving are an inexact science in a moving body of water with currents.

I seem to be one of the few left who believes she either fell in the water or chased Willow into an unsearched ditch nearby.

 

[poirotoupierrot]

it's part of the reason I found that whole argument of ' the phone was left as decoy' hard to believe (Peter Faulding and another ' talking head' were promoting it.)

A methodical perpetrator who is the type to leave a decoy, how would he know she was muted and off camera and thus the Teams people couldn't hear a struggle, screams etc? Risky move

WHoever it si might know her. She had told people she had an important work call that morning.

 

[GeorgeFormby]

Again, just opinion - To me, whatever has happened (assuming others involved) is less about being planned, and more about being a flash point, and a panic. In my mind, a planned abduction/stalking type thing just doesn't seem likely. Either opportunistic (I still think this is unlikely) or some sort of confrontation with a local person that went wrong and NB was swiftly moved away from the area. Purely speculation, not based on anything other than my own thoughts. I hope she has done a runner, personally, however cruel this would be to her family, but I just don't think its likely. The idea NB has fallen in the water and banged her head, or similar trauma, just doesn't seem likely.

 

[MrsWatson]

There are a lot of inconsistencies in this interview.
I don’t think it was a good decision to do it. Channel 5 must be rubbing their hands together, best ratings they’ve had in a long time.

BBM

Like what?

 

[Beginnersleuth]

I’m guessing PA’s car is on the drive on the ring doorbell footage until the time he left after the call from the school and the time frame isn’t long enough for PA to have snuck out the house and walked to where NB was and walk back by the time he was sending emails on his computer at home just before 10am. Feel very sorry for him with all this speculation.

He has a clear alibi and isn’t a POI. And the police will have looked into him, as he said on the programme as well.

 

[CSIAngus]

I've not quite abandoned the theory that NB ended up in the river after a tragic accident, but after the PA interview I've looked at what could be a plausible alternative.

NB is last seen by a witness in the upper field at 9.10am with her dog. She's not seen again. Her dog Willow is found alone near the bench at 9.33am precisely we are told. That is 23 minutes. A lot can happen in that amount of time in a small area. For the sake of argument, let's say there is a predator there. Perhaps he had worked out NB's movements over many days (PA inferred her movements were almost like clockwork). He forces NB and her dog off the field and applies restraint. He then has enough time to march the dog to the bench, pose the phone, untie the dog, and leave the leash and harness on the ground. The dog would not follow a stranger back across the field but would stay by its familiar harness. He then returns to NB, and then the abandoned dog and phone are discovered. He would then have many days to work out what to do next as the Police were fixated on the river and the tragic accident theory.

If we can accept that as a plausible scenario then I would be forensically searching all of the caravans and building at or near Rowanwater, where there is no CCTV coverage by the exit from the field, and looking into the backgrounds of everyone who was known to be there that day or who had access and could have been there.

 

[MrsWatson]

WHoever it si might know her. She had told people she had an important work call that morning.

Link, please, for who she had told she had an important work call?

By all accounts, including her boss, this was a routine conference call. Could you please link the call you are referring to? TIA.

 

[MachinaCollecta]

It’s my personal belief that NB may be somewhere in that river, but I remain open minded. It’s worth saying though that we don’t have any actual evidence of a crime as yet, at least nothing that’s been publicly stated. Truth is, there’s not a ton to go on, other than the fact that I’m pretty sure Willow didn’t do it (whatever IT happens to be)

 

[poirotoupierrot]

I played through that scenario in my head, too. It's been made very clear that she was not actively participating in this regular Teams call so her routine may involve dialling in and putting the phone aside (surely LE checked that she was in fact on loudspeaker when the phone was discovered!). How far away would she typically move from her phone whilst on the call? Was she even interested in what was being discussed on the call or would she largely ignore it? Difficult to say.

It makes sense to have the phone out of your pockets on loudspeaker when on a call (muffled sound, accidental unmuting) unless you wear headphones so her behaviour with regards to the call appears very much expected.

Would a perpetrator intentionally approach while she is on the call? That seems unlikely as she could quickly unmute and call for help. The phone being on the bench also negates the theory that she was lured away on false pretences as she surely would have taken her phone with her.

The phone being dropped/abandoned with the dog does however promote the idea of soemthing happening suddenly. I don't know if that means she was attacked or fell somewhere, but it does seem she was stopped in her tracks. She may have left them intentionally too. If someone had tricked me into going somewhere by calling for help or something, if I couldn't get away I'd hope that normally carefully guarded things being discarded would indicate that ambush.

 

[Furore]

I also still think she fell. I think it would be extremely hard to physically manoeuvre an unconscious OR resisting adult in broad daylight that distance from the river to a getaway or hideout.

On initial hearing of the case I felt a pretty woman with a routine walk was vulnerable but the timeline doesn’t seem feasible or pragmatic. The dog would have kicked up a fuss too. The police did take forensics from the bench according to recent police press conference.

I know from family allies to search and rescue in remote areas including bodies of water, just how easy it is to drown in unassuming bodies of water especially in the cold. I myself have been in a river plunge pool in January, you would not believe how hard it is to move a few metres in waist deep water, and that’s with a wetsuit on, prepared, no wet face or injury from a fall. All MOO.

 

[Rb1234]

The harness being found on the embankment does make me lean back towards an accidental fall but with the amount of searching that’s been done, surely at least 1 item of clothing would have been found? Or car keys would have floated out of coat pocket?