Found Deceased UK - Nicola Bulley Last Seen Walking Dog Near River - St Michaels on Wyre (Lancashire) #4

[Taskforce88]

Yep. I'm uneasy about the first witness, their actions, etc.

 

[Edinlass]

Has Lancashire police had many high profile missing persons cases in the past? Just asking out of curiosity.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

The bench is under the tree with the notices on.
View attachment 399977

Image source

And that bench is within a couple of metres of the gate, which is behind it, and the river, right in front.

There have been a few posts about the location of the phone/lead/harness/dog, but my understanding is they’re basically all the same place.

 

[PandaMarch]

Has anyone seen LBC post on Tik Tok? IMO, by the bench it looks quite easy to accidentally slip and fall from the angle of recording?

yes, definitely agree, not much space in front of the bench before you could easily slip down the bank

 

[sprinterdude]

But, to me anyway, Willow wanted through that gate! Why?

Isn't the caravan park that way or is that the other way? I can't shake the feeling the caravan park hasn't been searched thoroughly enough especially if someone is trying to hide something or someone and we don't know alot about it unless I've missed something and who is staying there if anyone etc for all we know it could be entirely empty or heavily occupied by unsavoury characters

 

[Edinlass]

First I’ve seen this from a forensic expert, scroll down to watch his take on it - Nicola Bulley case - latest: Forensic expert says case 'a very, very odd one'; police say issue with dog could have led missing mother-of-two to river | Latest updates

He’s also baffled by the case and asking the same questions as most of us are.

 

[The Truth Is]

Was it not posted earlier that all dogs must be kept on a lead there’s a sign? And I wonder with it being a big sprawling place would it be a flexi (retractable) to give the dog freedom to roam but still on a lead? That’s what I do. But it’s quite hard to tie them up(not impossible, but tricky) compared to short leash MOO

There may be a sign but clearly the dog was off the lead.

 

[PandaMarch]

First I’ve seen this from a forensic expert, scroll down to watch his take on it - Nicola Bulley case - latest: Forensic expert says case 'a very, very odd one'; police say issue with dog could have led missing mother-of-two to river | Latest updates

He’s also baffled by the case and asking the same questions as most of us are.

yes although he says the dog is normally in the harness, and says that it's strange that the dog is out of harness when found, but we know NB always had the dog out of the harness on walks.
It's a shame this clip isn't the whole interview, he made some good points

 

[Lilbitcurious]

Isn't the caravan park that way or is that the other way? I can't shake the feeling the caravan park hasn't been searched thoroughly enough especially if someone is trying to hide something or someone and we don't know alot about it unless I've missed something and who is staying there if anyone etc for all we know it could be entirely empty or heavily occupied by unsavoury characters

If you watch the video that PandaMarch posted for me you get to the squeaky gate at the bench then the video stops. It’s all grass and some trees when you come in off main road to path up to the gate and bench. So the park must be along from the bench so I thought at first the dog was trapped in between gates and couldn’t go anywhere but I don’t think that is the case! I think MOO, she was able to go in opposite direction of the bench and gate but didn’t, WHY?

 

[Trivento]

Would it be useful for authorities to install a couple of grates / traps at suitable places in the river that would still allow riverflow but could catch any larger items for inspection.. ?

Or perhaps they felt is no need for this if there is already such features existing somewhere in river..?

Just a thought of something that may help ..

 

[Deleted member 240694]

They work off evidence.
It's black and white and they too are bound by the law.
At this point in time they have no evidence to suggest a third party is involved.
Their protocols are really stiff, no room for speculation.
They are not saying no evidence will ever appear or we can't be bothered.
They have huge resources poured into this, assisted by several other police forces and they are co-ordinating a massive operation.
They won't be taking shortcuts.

It's not what we want to hear.
We want this to end happily.
It may not.

But according to LE, they don't have evidence to support a hypothesis of an accidental drowning. The fact is, they simply don't know if NB entered the water. Supt. Riley, press conference, 3 Feb 2023 states " ..but we don't know why Nicola may have entered the water, if she did." (BBM). And they are speculating / hypothesising that if she did enter the water, she did so accidentally. They are also speculating that there is no 3rd party, criminal or suspicious involvement in NB's disappearance.

The evidence, if accurate, places NB in the upper field at 9.10am. That evidence does not place her at the bench area 10 mins later. You say there is no room for speculation but LE are speculating that NB placed her phone on the bench at 9.20am, to the exclusion of any other possibility. They have no evidence that NB was there. They have a phone signal which places the phone there - but no actual evidence of who placed the phone there. At this point in time, to date, despite extensive, professional searching, there is no evidence at all that NB entered the water. These are facts.

 

[Lilbitcurious]

Would it be useful for authorities to install a couple of grates / traps at suitable places in the river that would still allow riverflow but could catch any larger items for inspection.. ? Or perhaps there is already such features existing somewhere in river..?
Just a thought of something that may help ..

Would be an idea but what if there is fish in it?

 

[Beans]

I know the main working hypothesis is the fall into the river but I’m still not completely sold on that, for now anyway.

Out of interest I went to have a look at the Rowanwater park and found that one of the lodges is currently for sale. I don’t know if this means it’s empty or not, plus it looks like it may be one of the lodges furthest away from the field / walking area end of the park so probably not particularly interesting but you never know.

https://www.sellmygroup.co.uk/park/Rowanwater-1274

 

[JennieM]

But according to LE, they don't have evidence to support a hypothesis of an accidental drowning. The fact is, they simply don't know if NB entered the water. Supt. Riley, press conference, 3 Feb 2023 states " ..but we don't know why Nicola may have entered the water, if she did." (BBM). And they are speculating / hypothesising that if she did enter the water, she did so accidentally. They are also speculating that there is no 3rd party, criminal or suspicious involvement in NB's disappearance.

The evidence, if accurate, places NB in the upper field at 9.10am. That evidence does not place her at the bench area 10 mins later. You say there is no room for speculation but LE are speculating that NB placed her phone on the bench at 9.20am, to the exclusion of any other possibility. They have no evidence that NB was there. They have a phone signal which places the phone there - but no actual evidence of who placed the phone there. At this point in time, to date, despite extensive, professional searching, there is no evidence at all that NB entered the water. These are facts.

All we know for sure is that something unpleasant happened to NB and that Willow was distressed.

 

[citygirl]

Has anyone quoted this piece yet?

"As the investigation extends into an eighth day, a source from St Michael's Angling Association said the stretch of river where Ms Bulley vanished is notorious and 'very dangerous', with a depth of about 15ft.

'The combination of the depth and how cold it is at this time of year makes it very dangerous,' he told The Times.

'I certainly would not want to fall in there and I'm a very strong swimmer.' Specialist police divers have been painstakingly searching the riverbed for clues. "

Nicola Bulley's family find police river theory 'hard to contemplate'

Anyone correct me if I am wrong.
Did I hear in the presser the river is 15 KM long?
Did they say they had searched 15 KM?
Don't think they did?
Just looking for clarification.

 

[kittythehare]

As if this case isn’t difficult enough we can’t even get a straight answer - is it deep at parts, strong undercurrents, depth. It’s such a shame tbh. I don’t know how we aren’t all in the nut house the amount of conflicting info and I don’t know why I do it to myself time and time again. I haven’t been on WS for a good year, after this I think I may need a bit longer.

It's very highly charged emotionally and mebbe not so easy to come back to a place of balance.
It's a really rocky ride.
I've been in this headspace before on cases here.
Desperately wanting it and the gods wont play ball..
It's a hard station but truthfully I wouldn't have it any other way.
Sometimes I think it might be of some help to the victim, Nicola and her grieving loved ones to take up the mantle, share the pain.
Buddhists call it Tonglen, I think..

 

[Beans]

Oh and another random thought I had re: mixed reports about the conditions on the river that day. If it had been noticeably different in any way, I think that makes it less likely that she would remove the harness. As a dog owner I know I check that out before letting mine loose near water.

That said, if she fell in and did have that long quilted coat zipped up, the combined effects of cold, shock and heavy/restrictive clothing might have made the river conditions less relevant anyway.

 

[kittythehare]

Anyone correct me if I am wrong.
Did I hear in the presser the river is 15 KM long?
Did they say they had searched 15 KM?
Don't think they did?
Just looking for clarification.

Yeah.

 

[kittythehare]

But according to LE, they don't have evidence to support a hypothesis of an accidental drowning. The fact is, they simply don't know if NB entered the water. Supt. Riley, press conference, 3 Feb 2023 states " ..but we don't know why Nicola may have entered the water, if she did." (BBM). And they are speculating / hypothesising that if she did enter the water, she did so accidentally. They are also speculating that there is no 3rd party, criminal or suspicious involvement in NB's disappearance.

The evidence, if accurate, places NB in the upper field at 9.10am. That evidence does not place her at the bench area 10 mins later. You say there is no room for speculation but LE are speculating that NB placed her phone on the bench at 9.20am, to the exclusion of any other possibility. They have no evidence that NB was there. They have a phone signal which places the phone there - but no actual evidence of who placed the phone there. At this point in time, to date, despite extensive, professional searching, there is no evidence at all that NB entered the water. These are facts.

Based on all the work we have done so far, we are now as confident as we can be that Nicola has not left the field where she was last seen and our working hypothesis is that she has fallen into the river for some reason. There is no evidence whatsoever that there is anything suspicious about her disappearance or any third-party involvement in her going missing. Our investigation remains open and we will of course act on any new information which comes to light.

Lancashire Constabulary - MFH Nicola Bulley - latest update

The latest news and information for Lancashire Constabulary

lancashire.police.uk

 

[PandaMarch]

Anyone correct me if I am wrong.
Did I hear in the presser the river is 15 KM long?
Did they say they had searched 15 KM?
Don't think they did?
Just looking for clarification.

15km from point of bench to where it meets the sea. Yes they have searched this stretch but will need to search parts again they said as its tidal