Missing woman

[MyOldCaravan]

BBC News - Nicola Bulley: Partner describes perpetual hell over missing mum
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-64450243

Just been reading about this. How awful for her partner and children. Really hope she is found soon

@Bubbinsmakesthree I agree with you totally

The only thing they will stop all this ever increasing bizarre speculation and conspiracies is - sadly - her body being found. Which it will be I'm sure

I don't know why so many people think they know better than the police. Yes, of course it's very hard to fathom how she might have fallen and how she clearly quickly became incapacitated but honestly ... some of the armchair detecting and mental gymnastics involved in reaching ever implausible conclusions is a bit mad

@EasterIssland just read that, I did think when it said that it would only encourage people to instantly come up with a story like this 🙄 The sister to me came across as really genuine. If I disappeared my sister’s number one concern (besides finding me) would be to look after my little boy so she’d probably come every day, most likely not spend the night but it doesn’t actually say she was even staying over.. could just be there all day with them

By the sound of it, it’s not all knee deep. Apparently the bit near the bench is deeper.

The speculation about the family is horrendous and makes me wonder what happened to empathy. Presumably the likelihood is an accident where she perhaps hit her head, or a medical episode preceding it. In those events, it wouldn’t matter how strong a swimmer you were or how deep the water is. Not putting aside how difficult conditions can be in rivers with foliage underwater.

I think as the family you’d be desperate to make sure all possibilities stayed in play on the awful off-chance there was an attack. As soon as you start looking at missing persons cases (which so many people are aware of now, due to true crime podcasts etc) what often stands out is how much time and information that’s lost when the police don’t do everything possible at the beginning. It looks like the police are, but you can see why the family would want to keep every avenue open in the meantime.

I agree with this.

Who is the witness who says they saw Nicola at 09.10? I'm looking at a news report that says the witness is 'someone who knows Nicola' and saw her walking Willow the dog in the upper field 'at 09.10'.

This is bugging me, because she was already logged onto that Teams call (apparently at 09.01) and was down at the bench by the river to listen to the call by 09.20 (apparently).

The '09.10 witness' and the accuracy of their recollections seem crucial.

I really, really hope the Police know what they're doing if they're trying to smoke someone out. The Superintendent says, 'This is a low-crime area. It's genuinely a safe, tight-knit area, people look out for each other.' But a pp ^^ says there have been sexual assaults in the area?

I really hope Police have investigated the transient nature of the campsite and holiday lodges only a field away. Questioning those that were there at the time. The dog was found running round in that area. Is it possible she was abducted?

Obviously you people who swim know better but even if the river was very shallow and low/ slow flowing, it still has some current under.
I am non swimmer and once I went into local baby swimming pool with my daughter who was learning to swim, I only literally walked into the pool by shallow end , the water was about 2 feet high and I still remember how surprised I was that my legs felt suddenly so heavy to walk in it, then I tried to sort of some swimming manoeuvre holding the rail, but I was dragged in, and started panicking as I couldn’t swim and this was in the swimming pool with no current and I was in a swimwear costume.
I can only imagine if she was in a heavy long gilet and under coat, jeans, wellies, this all must added the weight, plus the current and freezing temperature..

Think the police have completely fucked up by clearly never treating it as a crime scene and that’s why they’ve basically said “yep she’s in the water”

and that’s why her family are rightly pushing back

it’s basically too late to properly investigate now as a potential crime

^ This. It’s all just too neat for me, frankly. I live rural, by a river which is notorious for suicides and it would be frighteningly easy for this scenario to be set up here, in order to cover up a murder.

If you’ve seen any of the photos of the divers working in the area directly under the bench you can see it’s not knee deep. Just the very fact they’ve got divers in there tells you it’s not knee deep.

It’s likely to be a tragic accident.

Though if I’d spotted the dog alone, the harness and lead, plus a mobile phone left too I’d have been concerned. I often see dogs who have run off from owners and don’t think much of it, however I think if I saw those other things, especially near a river with a steep bank, I don’t think I’d be rushing off without having a look around. No one leaves their phone unattended without good reason, and the dog unattended and lead and harness suggest it wasn’t just a phone accidentally left behind or dropped.

This, sadly. The water would be freezing. Someone died recently doing the ice plunge thing and that’s in a controlled situation. The bank is so steep, climbing out would be very difficult if weighed down, panicked and in shock. Even for a competent swimmer. My Dad’s friend drowned while open water swimming as he had an unknown back issue, he literally jumped in and disappeared.

The speculation, however, is understandable as she has not been found and there is mystery surrounding the circumstances of her disappearance.

Also, the police being almost insistent she’s in the river. Some questions about the handling of the case. Even a less than 1% chance, it should be fully investigated.

The optics aren’t great in the current climate of police mistrust, mismanagement of cases of violence against women etc.

Some posters here are clearly enjoying all this. Playing amateur sleuth and wanting to be the ones to solve the case.

If her body is found there will still be posters who are insistent that she was murdered, even though the likelihood for that to happen in the timing was highly unlikely.

I wonder why they have never released CCTV images of NB on the day of her disappearance.

I remember when Leah Croucher went missing, the first images released was of the last sighting caught of her on CCTV but no such images have been released of Nichola, is that not a bit strange, as surely this is the best way to jog peoples memory from that morning.

”All too neat”? The simplest explanation is usually the right one - Occam’s razor. It’s real life, not a whodunnit.

I completely understand why the family may be clinging onto any hope, however tiny, that there’s another explanation. And that even if there isn’t, they need the closure.

But it feels like a lot of bystanders are almost willing there to be a more sinister explanation than the obvious one, they should stick to watching Hapoy Valkey.

That's a very good point.
Surely as well as describing the clothes she was wearing they should have shown a photo of her wearing those clothes.

Except the police haven’t insisted that she’s in the river. They will have been undr pressure to give a news conference given the public nature of the case, and as such they have said that they believe the likelihood is that she fell into the river.

And meanwhile they have continued to investigate, have continued to seek witnesses etc, If they’d dismissed the case as “she fell into the river” the case would have been scaled back by now from a missing person enquiry into a search for a body. And it hasn’t.

^^

I think everyone posting on here agrees the most likely scenario is she’s drowned. But the police investigation should focus on all scenarios not just the most likely. It doesn’t feel that way. I think a group of mostly women, probably similar age and life point as NB have a right to question that. On the whole I feel people have been very sensitive on here when compared to platforms like Twitter.

@Simulacra "And why would have fallen if her dog was tied to the bench?"
The dog wasn't tied to the bench.

I said almost insistent. It’s their working hypothesis.

"If you’ve seen any of the photos of the divers working in the area directly under the bench you can see it’s not knee deep. Just the very fact they’ve got divers in there tells you it’s not knee deep."

Jesus wept. I can't believe this thread is so far on yet we've got pps like @Catingle who can't grasp how a tidal river works. The river there was knee deep at 0930 last Friday. It's not debatable, it's fact.

It is tidal. So at times it will be shallow, as it was that morning, and later in the day when the tide comes in it will be significantly deeper. I live next to a tidal river, the difference can be huge. There is footage of the police in the river that morning that showed them walking in the water and it is knee deep.
I do think that accidental drowning is the most likely scenario, but given the time scale and tides, it is surprising that she wasn’t visible in the water when the dog was first found.
I also agree that it is possible she ended up in the water by criminal means rather than accident, the sexual assaults mentioned upthread are worrying.
It is an absolute tragedy whatever has happened. I am sure all of us are thinking of her family and especially her children, I hope she is found soon.

Genuine question- is it fact as I can’t see that information anywhere and the police were vague when asked? I think you may be local so it’s very useful to know?