Nicola Bulley’s family called urgent NHS mental health team days before she vanished over ‘concerns for her welfare’ because of ‘increased alcohol use’ and after she told her children of ‘not wanting to be here’, inquest hears
Nicola Bulley was seen by a mental health worker 17 days before her disappearance after making comments about ‘not wanting to be here’, her inquest heard today.
The 45-year-old vanished after dropping her daughters, aged six and nine, at school, then taking her usual dog walk along the River Wyre in Lancashire, on January 27.
Her phone was found on a bench by the river, still on a work call. Experts say she would have drowned ‘in seconds’ due to the shock of entering the ‘freezing’ water.
A crisis response vehicle was sent to Ms Bulley’s home on January 10 after her sister raised concerns about her escalating alcohol consumption since Christmas 2022 and not wanting to ‘engage’ with her two daughters.
She was in bed when mental health clinician Theresa Lewis Leevy went upstairs to see her and clearly ‘intoxicated’, she told the hearing.
‘She didn’t want to engage in conversation,’ she said. ‘The interaction it’s fair to say was quite brief.’
Mother-of-two Nicola Bulley, 45, vanished while walking her dog in Lancashire on January 27
Workers from Specialist Group International, a private underwater search and recovery company, on the River Wyre on February 6
The following day Ms Bulley was seen at A&E at Blackpool Victoria Hospital after injuring the back of her head in a fall the previous evening, the inquest was told.
A CT scan was carried out to her head but there was no sign of injury. The inquest has not yet been told at what stage it was sustained.
READ MORE – How mother’s dog walk turned into mystery disappearance
Earlier Ms Bulley’s GP, Dr Rebecca Gray, told how in late 2022 she had been struggling to sleep and complaining that her brain felt ‘overloaded’.
She first saw Ms Bulley for symptoms of anxiety in December 2018, prescribing antidepressants, but later moved her to beta blockers after experiencing tremors.
In July 2021 she began complaining of hot flushes and was diagnosed with being post-menopause and commenced on HRT.
Dr Gray said Ms Bulley had follow-up appointments to vary her prescription due to side-effects.
But shortly before Christmas she complained she was ‘struggling with her sleep’ and ‘her brain felt like it was overloaded’.
She had never spoken of being suicidal or considering self-harm, she added.
Paul Ansell, Ms Bulley’s partner of 12 years, wiped away tears as he heard evidence about her death today
The first day of the inquest yesterday heard how Ms Bulley’s dog, Willow, was found at a bench near to a ‘cliff edge’ – making it almost impossible for anyone who had fallen in to get out without assistance.
Upon being told in a call that her phone and Willow were discovered, her partner Paul Ansell said: ‘She’s struggling, the inquest heard.
Retired care worker Susan Jones said at around 10am on January 27 she was called by Penny Fletcher who found Willow and the phone.
She then ran into Ms Fletcher’s daughter-in-law, referenced only as Anne-Marie, who recognised Ms Bulley from the phone’s lock screen photo.
Anne-Marie rang the local school as well as speaking to Mr Ansell – who had said ‘she’s struggling’. The mortgage adviser’s body was found more than three weeks later and just over a mile downstream.
As Mr Ansell, 44, and parents Dot and Ernie wiped away tears, a pathologist ruled out assault or foul play, saying she was alive when she entered the water.
Two witnesses told the hearing they independently heard a brief scream coming from towards the river around the time she was last seen.
But the inquest was told a police timeline suggested it was likely she was already in the water at that point.
Ms Bulley vanished after dropping her daughters, aged six and nine, in St Michael’s-on-Wyre, then taking her usual dog walk.
Just after 9.30am a local businesswoman found Willow ‘giddy’ and loose near the river.
Her phone, still connected to her morning Teams call, was found on a nearby bench. Hundreds of volunteers joined a police search, but with no sign of her body, amateur sleuths took to social media to spread outlandish theories.
Police faced criticism after revealing she had been experiencing ‘significant issues with alcohol’ brought on by her struggle with the menopause.
Her body was found on February 19 and identified by dental records.
At the inquest at County Hall in Preston, police diver PC Matthew Thackray said the riverbank at the point where Ms Bulley is believed to have vanished had a steep ‘cliff edge’ into the ‘freezing’ water.
Senior coroner Dr James Adeley asked: ‘If you were in the water trying to get a foothold, would it be possible?’ ‘Not at all,’ he answered.
Professor Michael Tipton, an expert on the effects of falling into cold water, said just two breaths underwater in the river – which was just 3.6C (38.5F) that day – would have been ‘the lethal dose for drowning’.
‘In my opinion, if Nikki fell into the water at the point we’ve seen, there’s a very good chance the first gasp would have occurred with her head under the water,’ he said.
Dr Patrick Morgan, medical director of HM Coastguard, told the hearing even if she had managed to gasp air before she went under, it was unlikely she could have held her breath for more than ten seconds.
Helen O’Neill, a nurse who lives close to the bench, said she heard a ‘scream’ on the morning of the disappearance.
Tennis coach Veronica Claesen heard a ‘very short scream’ at the same time. The inquest is set to conclude today.
Source: Read Full Article
