Missing Woman Nicola Bulley 8

[ofwarren]

Here's the new thread

My phone is playing up. I wrote a FAQ and then it crashed and I lost it all.

I'm also dealing with a child on the spectrum who is bouncing off the walls this evening so I apologise for not being around much.

I know there is a river.

I'm interested in how the police would have reacted if there wasn't a river. It's not a huge mental leap to picture the scenario without one is it?

I realise that because there is a river we'll never see the course of action play out as if there weren't. I'm just interested if anyone knew what the police would gravitate towards if this situation occurred without the river.

Also @pigsinoodies @ofwarren

Nicola took that route most days I believe? Did she sit at that bench most days and make any calls on loud speaker as we know was her habit?

NB was friendly with close family of the original 'phone finding witness', I believe:

www.lancs.live/news/lancashire-news/nicola-bulley-laughing-joking-just-26135864

From above:

The woman said: "I saw the dog and I recognised it, but I suddenly couldn't think whose dog it was. There was a mobile phone on the bench and there was also something between the bench and the river so I went and looked, and it was a dog harness."

She said the dog looked "worried" and after speaking to her daughter-in-law was told it belonged to Nicola.

"I asked the Sergeant, ‘Is there any chance of her being taken’ and she said, ‘I don’t think that’s the case’. I said, ‘How can you know that?’

“It’s such an isolated area, the only way that has happened is if it was someone who knew her.”

She went on to say two other dog walkers later came across her phone and recognised the screensaver photo. She said they were unable to unlock the phone.

From the Telegraph article of 1 February:

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/01/nicola-bulley-old-abandoned-house-searched-bid-find-missing/

The owner of the Wyreside Park Farm caravan site, which police underwater search teams are using as a base, confirmed that she had found Willow and then the mobile phone.

She told The Telegraph: “I saw the dog and recognised the dog. Then I saw the phone and knew there was a problem.”

The businesswoman told her daughter-in-law, who called Paul Ansell, Ms Bulley’s partner. He alerted police.

The dog was reportedly “bone dry” and in an “agitated state” when found.

The last person to see Ms Bulley before she went missing said she had seemed “completely normal”. The man, who has spoken to police, saw her as she began her walk at 9.15am

His wife said they would see her on the same stretch of the river most days while they exercised their dogs, telling The Times: “In the field there were about three people, including my husband. He said there was nothing unusual about her and she seemed completely normal

I also don’t understand the thing with “a man” saying that Willow could have been attracted to fishing bait, and that “She” might have had a “medical episode” , how did he know that the phone belonged to a woman at that point ? Why was he suggesting that she would be in the water, and if they thought that, why didn’t they call the police immediately?

I've seen a photo online of Nikki holding her phone and it was in a bright pink case. Can't remember where I seen it though.

This part keeps me wondering. It mighr be small detail (phone was found under or on bench), but who were there finding it along with the dog, harness, etc were quite crucial. While the lady has been identified, the man who found the phone wasnt. In fact, its still not clear if he exists as the previous known news was the phone was found on the bench by the lady. The man could. E just another dog walker.. But what was his reason leaving willow and the phone just there for more than 1 hr? Didnt he find it odd that the dog wandering alone plus the harness and the phone were on the ground (had it been on bench, the situation was less suspicious)? We know the lady had appointment, which although what she did was questionable for some people, but still understandable given her reason.

It was obviously cobbled together from things the friend had been told, maybe from somebody who also wasn't there. It was confused and badly-explained and obviously hasn't been gone into in any depth.

Presumably the police will have everyone's version of events and will have a proper timeline of the peripheral events and who was present. That's not something they need to pass on though - just the timings that directly relate to Nicola's movements.

Peter Faulding is doing the rounds this evening!

twitter.com/GBNEWS/status/1625236984921837570?t=kHmHCLkiABnwRo9lzMEmuA&s=19

"She would have had to have been pushed from behind and launched into the river to miss the rocks...The immediate area should have been searched extensively.'

Dive expert, Peter Faulding, discusses why Lancashire police still believe Nicola Bulley fell into the river."

I bet the police are furious with PF now. What he said seems to make sense though

Does anyone think it odd that the wife of the male witness tells the press about what he saw - rather than him directly - when she wasn’t there?

@Peverellshire the first article is a re-hash of the Mirror article.

.

PF: "They need to get a grip of their PR".

Who can argue.

After watching the interview when he said by 10.30 she was 30 mins later than he’d expect and he’d rung her twice and was starting to feel panicky and getting ready to go out looking I thought it was odd. Quite honestly if my husband started chasing me down at 30 mins later than expected I’d be having words, however my understanding is that when he called the police he already knew the dog and phone had been found and she was nowhere to be seen so I understand some concern at that point. I’d probably have got there and had a look around first though.

Thing is, he's absolutely right. The police are correct in that there's no evidence of foul play. But there's no evidence for their hypothesis of her going into the river either. So yes they've checked CCTV and pursued the dashcams, but forensic searching on and around the bench, no. The police divers seemed to have been called in and gone into the river based on the assumption she went in with no thought to the area possibly being part of a crime scene.

Hopefully the police have unpacked all this and 'know' (?) Suggesting a medical episode so fast is a strange thing to do, Was this what the appeal for the elderly man with dog was all about? Why would he immediately assume the dog owner had fallen in? Also why would he immediately (?) imagine 'fishing bait' had lured the dog to the water's edge?

A man DID come forward, but WAS it him?

Police have today said they want to speak to a man in his 70s who was walking his dog near where Nicola Bulley went missing five days ago.

Lancashire Police released a statement saying officers wanted to speak to the dog walker who was seen in the area when she went missing.

A spokesperson said in a statement: ‘We are especially keen to find a witness we believe was in the area at the time Nicola went missing.

‘He is described as a man aged around 70, white, six ft tall, well-built who was walking a small white fluffy dog on a lead.

Police are quizzing a man described as "potentially a key witness" in the hunt for Nicola Bulley, the mother-of-two who vanished while walking her dog.

LBC News 31 Jan 2023

Mortgage adviser Ms Bulley, 45, disappeared on Friday morning while on a work call on a path in the town of Wyre, Lancashire.

Her phone was found on a bench close to the spot where she went missing - still connected to the conference call.

Lancashire Police said on Tuesday that they were looking for a "potentially key witness" - a man with a small, fluffy white dog.

The man has since been identified, and officers said they were speaking to him on Tuesday evening.

Her family also issued a statement today, saying: "We have been overwhelmed by the support from our community and would like to thank everyone for their ongoing efforts to help us find Nicola.

"The girls are desperate to have their mummy back home safe with them and your ongoing efforts have provided comfort to them whilst we await news on Nicola.

"We ask for anyone who thinks they may have any information that may help the police find Nicola to please come forward and help them with their inquiries

The red coat woman WAS also identified, I think she had been generally picked up on CCTV though (?) as it seems the police were working from the picture in the article rather than a witness testimony:

news.sky.com/story/nicola-bulley-potential-witness-sought-by-police-in-search-for-45-year-old-dog-walker-is-traced-12801588

@liveforsummer the article you're replying to states that PA contacted Mercedes re the keys as soon as she went missing.

You're right.

I think if Crimewatch was still going and someone suggested it to Lancashire Constabulary, they'd say, no thanks, there's no need as there's no evidence of a crime, and that would be that.

This case gets curiouser and curiouser as time passes. Despite all the detail and following the threads and the news I'm still not entirely sure I understand the basic facts. Did Nicola pass through the kissing gate and bench on her way to the walk, and walk at least as far as the field (where a witness saw her), and this is the last known sighting of her?
If so, then she didn't necessarily return to the bench/kissing gate at all. Her phone, harness and Willow did but it can't be assumed that she brought them back to this point can it?

If so, then she didn't necessarily return to the bench/kissing gate at all. Her phone, harness and Willow did but it can't be assumed that she brought them back to this point can it?

No, there's no evidence that places Nicola herself at the bench after the alleged sighting in the upper field.

And would her normal (same every day) walk place her back there within the given time frame?

Yes, that's right. The last known sighting of her was in the upper field around 9.10am by someone who knew who she was.

And no, it can't be assumed it was her who took the items back to the bench area.

She may well have not come back across the field at all for all anyone knows.

Thanks for clarifying that.

Her husband told Dan in the interview that he took Willow along the path by the river to see if Willow reacted when she got to the area where Nicola disappeared. He said Willow wasn't interested bug was keen to go into the field at the back. WHY WOULDN'T YOU LET HER GO INTO THE FIELD AND FOLLOW HER???? She's a Springer Spaniel, one of the most intelligent dogs of all breeds. Used as tracker dogs, sniffer dogs etc!

But not bug obv

Maybe because at that point it was all focused on her falling in the river? And everything seemed focused on the area round the bench,