Missing Woman Nicola Bulley 4

[ofwarren]

www.lep.co.uk/news/crime/nicola-bulley-day-13-latest-updates-as-search-for-missing-mum-continues-4017066

Lancashire Evening Post has just posted this update.

confounded234 - thank you for clarifying this, and now it makes even less sense that she would be swept away.

This is a very sad situation. The police are saying that Nicola may remain 'missing'. It's quite possible that as it was a frosty morning she slipped on the bank of the river and didn't leave any marks. Although this is sounding more and more unlikely. This was a local woman who knew the area very well. My mum walks her dogs next to a river and knows all the dangerous and dodgy bits to avoid, just as Nicola would have known. I definitely agree with others, that it is strange behaviour to tie a dog to the bench (although sometimes things don't 'click' in people's heads until after the event). I also think it's strange that Nicola would have sat on that dirty bench on a freezing cold morning. Let's just hope the police can bring some sort of closure to her family.

Can anyone confirm where the phone was found ? On the ground under the tree or on the bench under the tree ?
Did I read that the the woman who found Willow also found the phone under the tree and placed it on the bench ? To me a phone on the ground suggests something untoward happened to surprise her or she threw the phone as a way of getting attention from the river. Otoh phone on the bench means she was happily sat there listening to team call and left phone to investigate something close by. Also if it involved Willow surely she'd take the lead/ harness to secure her rather than having to extricate a wet wriggley dog ? I know when our dog scarpered into undergrowth when she was frightened by a gun shot I took the lead. I get why they were both on the floor as they were presumably wet and dirty...

Possibly, because whenever a woman comes to harm/disappears, there's usually a man behind it and men can't face the uncomfortable truth that they're predators and we're the prey.

I think she's been abducted. I don't know why the police are so fixated on the river.

She's made numerous blunders in all her pressers: ankle length gilet, when it was knee length at longest; said that Nicola might have been playing with the ball and slipped in - it's been established that they didn't take a ball; getting the names of the roads wrong.

Maybe she's got a lot on her plate but she strikes me as someone who literally does not want to hear anything other than what she believes - that she fell in the river end of. I often come across these types of senior managers in the public sector, very defensive, unable to access they made a mistake, quick to blame others, terrible listeners.

Peter Faulding is going to be on some true crime YouTube video thing at half 5...
How random
twitter.com/TrueCrimeNQ/status/1623355769214144513?t=1AMJxIOtu0fr3M3TMC8tCw&s=19

I wonder if she thought her dog was in trouble so ran to the bank but slipped and landed in a deep bit. And maybe she went into shock or some thing.

My understanding is they are referring to the stile by the bench. Which has space for a dog to get through

I was thinking the same, They really think she fell in for reasons only they know. They have said from day one there has been no third party involved. If they have got that wrong they have wasted nearly two weeks.

@FlyRobinFly

I don't think it would be a dognapping gone wrong. They wouldn't have left the dog.

That is not what the past I responded to said. It said the dog was taken back days later. But it's irrelevant. An experienced dog owner might be able to read their own dog and guess what it is saying to them. They might get a herbal impression of another dog. But it's rubbish to think that they know what that dog is saying, s
especially when they've never even met the dog. This isn't an episode of the Dog Whisperer.

The Claudia Lawerence team got it wrong for 5 weeks until it was turned into a murder investigation by which time it was too late.

Her Fitbit data must put her firmly in the river, my personal speculation based on nothing except the police being certain and saying

"We would ask that we be allowed time to continue with those enquiries and release to the public only what is relevant."

But if this is the case, the police should release that information.

@confounded234 I'm starting to find her extremely irritating. One would hope she has a good track record if she's been trusted with this investigation but her lack of attention to detail and poor communication skills make you wonder. Nicola's family and friends must be horrified every time she opens her mouth.

Where the phone was found depends on the dog walker's statement. There is a chance she may not have remembered correctly. Who knows?
We all do things every day without ever thinking we'll need to recount it all in detail.

That actually does make sense.

Yes I know they have. There's a big difference between process being carried out satisfactorily and being carried out rigourously right from the start with a fully open mind and no assumptions being made.

Is this a criminal investigation? No, we believe she fell in the river by the bench.
Have you looked into CCTV? Yes
Have you searched the river? Yes
Have you contacted the drivers on Blackpool Lane? Yes
Are you looking at dashcam footage? Yes

Due process completed satisfactorily.

Have you searched upstream of the bench because the bench may be a red herring and if she fell in it may have been elsewhere? No. (It was SGI who did that later).

Have you searched the house opposite and the outbuildings? No because this isn't a criminal investigation and the owner wanted us to get a search warrant.

Etc. Big difference between doing things by the book correctly, and being a bit more creative in your thinking.

I saw the photo of the gate earlier and my spaniel would have been over that in a heartbeat!

I assume they’ve checked all the cctv right up to the time that a) she was reported missing and b) the police arrived?

I don't understand how the police can say that with such certainty. Surely they must know that all possibilities must be considered. Whenever someone goes missing a third party has to be suspected unless a witness actually sees an accident. Nobody saw her fall into the river.

Looks to me like they’re referring to the same thing…

Sally Riley (reported in press this morning 8/2): We have gone into derelict property - including ones on the riverside, (and) any under renovation that were empty - with the permission of those owners and their knowledge.'

Tilly Ann (this afternoon 8/2): ‘The abandoned house and outbuildings etc have not yet been searched as it is not currently a crime investigation…(This should have been done straight away).’

Her Fitbit had not synched since the previous Tuesday before her disappearance.

If it definitely showed she as in the river I don’t think PF would have said she wasn’t in there.

Gate again

The timeline has been updated of events, I didnt realise the dog was tied up with string, why string and not the lead?

m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0L1aEjWGTUrrcY3XfXSCFtsqqZWk2wyVYYLNFGg5d3YBBdeiyPqo22KCQwYRTyjBal&id=554602984

Very plausible. Dog in trouble, Nicola leaves her phone on the bench so it doesn't get wet while she rescues the dog, then she somehow she slips in and gets washed away.

But the dog was dry so hadn't got into trouble in the actual river . And why hasn't the body been found in the river.

It is very odd