Did missing mother fall into the river? Friends fear Nicola Bulley ‘slipped down steep and muddy riverbank’ while walking her dog – twenty years after toddler drowned nearby
- Nicola Bulley, 45, vanished on Friday morning as she was walking pet dog Willow
- The mortgage adviser – who is a mother of two – left mobile phone on a bench
Neighbours of Nicola Bulley have raised fears about the ‘slippery riverbank’ near to where the missing mother was last seen as police continue to probe her disappearance.
Ms Bulley mysteriously vanished five days ago while walking her dog, springer spaniel Willow, on a towpath by the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire.
The 45-year-old’s phone was found on a bench nearby, still dialled into the business call she was on when she was last seen.
Police say they remain ‘open minded’ as to Ms Bulley’s disappearance, but insist they do not believe at present that she was attacked.
With the local community wracked by fear, her neighbours confirmed that the doting mother would have never willingly left her family.
Neighbours of Nicola Bulley have raised fears about the ‘slippery riverbank’ near to where the missing mother was last seen as police continue to probe her disappearance
Ms Bulley’s daughters ‘cried their eyes out’ as their father, Paul Ansell, tried to console them while himself wracked with fear and grief this week
It’s been five days now since the mother-of-two vanished while walking her dog, springer spaniel Willow, on a towpath by the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire
Her disappearance comes more than two decades after a toddler drowned in the same river and less than six miles from where Ms Bulley was last seen.
The body of two-year-old Reece Maybury washed up half a mile downstream from the riverside camp site he had been staying at with family.
Search and rescue teams continued the hunt for Ms Bulley for a fifth day, with police admitting they are ‘keeping an open mind’.
A neighbour said of Ms Bulley last night: ‘The family is extremely close-knit. They are very loving and they will be in absolute pieces. It’s a mystery. They just have no idea where she is.
‘We went out on the search on Sunday and she has taken the dog there loads of times but the banks of the river can be very slippery.’
She added: ‘You just don’t know do you but I do know that she would have never ever left those children voluntarily. The whole family is doting.
‘I would imagine Nicola was a doting mum. They are the loveliest people you could ever wish to meet. I think everyone is devastated because she seemed the kind of girl who didn’t have a bad bone in her body.
‘She was extremely pleasant and homely. She lived for her daughters and Paul. The family will be heartbroken.
‘Every week her parents go to Nicola’s and pick their grandchildren up and come back here. I can’t imagine what they are going through and they just have no idea where she could be.
‘It has made us quite upset. Nicola had a nice family and a nice job and she was a lovely person.’
It comes as the distraught partner of the missing mother tried to gently break the news that ‘mummy is lost’ to their two little girls, aged nine and six.
Ms Bulley’s daughters ‘cried their eyes out’ as their father, Paul Ansell, tried to console them while himself wracked with fear and grief this week.
And while Mr Ansell is trying to be ‘as strong as possible’ for the sake of his girls, he has tried to explain the basics to them.
His father, David, said: ‘The children have been told, ‘Mummy’s missing’, but they haven’t been told the full details,’ according to The Sun.
‘When they were told, they absolutely cried their eyes out.’
And Ms Bulley’s mum said: ‘Paul had to tell the girls what was going on. He just told them, ”Mummy’s lost”. It’s heartbreaking.’
Speaking from the family home in Inskip, Lancashire, Mr Ansell said he spent all of Sunday searching for his partner of 12 years.
The engineer said: ‘It is just perpetual hell. It is just utter disbelief. We are living through this but it doesn’t feel real.
‘All we can say is we need to find her. She’s got two little girls that need their mummy home. We have got to get some good news now.’
Kev Camplin, of Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue, jumped to action in the hours after she disappeared, leading a team of 25 trained volunteers to search the immediate vicinity that same day.
He told The Mirror: ‘The abandoned house is right opposite the bench on the other side of the river, over a 10ft garden wall. It’s quite posh.
In November Ms Bulley posted how visibilty on her dog walk had been poor as well as spooky
‘We didn’t go into the house, as a volunteer search and rescue team we don’t actually go into buildings. We might go into a barn or something. We leave that to the police.
‘While the team was searching the grounds, the owner was there for some reason, and we asked him to go in and he had a quick look around and she wasn’t there.’
The team arrived at the location about 1pm after receiving a midday alert, and searched tirelessly until about 8pm.
The revelation comes after Lancashire Police said today they had found a ‘key witness’ who they believe could help find the missing mother.
Police said the witness, who was walking a white fluffy dog in the area, was ‘currently being spoken to’.
The man ‘spoke to the woman in the area who found Nicola’s dog near a bench in the field’, the force said in an earlier statement.
Ms Bulley was reportedly last seen by a man walking his dog in the vicinity about 9.15am. The man has spoken with police.
His wife, a 57-year-old software engineer, told The Times her husband was one of three people in the field the morning Ms Bulley disappeared.
‘He said there was nothing unusual about her and she seemed completely normal,’ she said. ‘I’d often see her and say hello. I always thought she looked very nicely dressed, in her bobble hat and smart Wellington boots. It’s just horrible to know she’s missing.’
Villager Nicola Dewey told the publication she’d skipped her usual river walk for two days running in the wake of Ms Bulley’s disappearance.
‘It’s really stunned people. It’s silly, but we are now locking our doors,’ she said.
The bench it is believed that Ms Bulley left her mobile phone on before she vanished on Friday
Ben Pociecha, the director of Exclusively Mortgages, said Ms Bulley had logged onto a team meeting at 9.01am. ‘It seems as if she was muted and didn’t have her camera on. She was listening in whilst walking her dog,’ he told MailOnline.
‘There were numerous parties involved in this. A lot of people attended the call. The police are investigating the call.’
Police find ‘key witness’ who could help them find Nicola: READ MORE
Ms Bulley was walking Willow in the area, who was later found loose between the river and bench.
The mortgage adviser has lived in Lancashire for 25 years but is originally from near Chelmsford, Essex, and has a southern accent.
Nicola’s brother-in-law Stephen Cunningham said: ‘The whole family, as expected, are struggling to understand what’s happened and worried beyond words.’
In a statement Ms Bulley’s family said: ‘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.’
It came as a social media post emerged where Ms Bulley shared pictures of herself walking her beloved dog Willow, close to where she vanished on January 27.
In it, she said: ‘A very foggy cold walk this morning, not a day to forget your gloves! Bit spooky too! Set me up for the day though and Willow had the best time’.
Specialist search teams today combed the River Wyre, off Garstang Road in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancs., and surrounding countryside in an effort to locate the mortgage advisor.
Villagers also joined in the search for mum of two Nicola.
Mick Peter, 37, spent his lunch break searching. He said: ‘It’s impacted on the whole community. I have come out just to help. This is a lovely area that is popular with dog walkers.
‘I walk my dog here every day and I always see other people out walking. Someone must have seen something. I hope she turns up safe.’
Ms Bulley had been out walking this dog, Willow, when she was reported missing on Friday
A neighbour said: ‘The family is extremely close-knit. They are very loving and they will be in absolute pieces. It’s a mystery. They just have no idea where she is.
‘We went out on the search on Sunday and she has taken the dog there loads of times but the banks of the river can be very slippery.’
She added: ‘You just don’t know do you but I do know that she would have never ever left those children voluntarily. The whole family is doting.
‘I would imagine Nicola was a doting mum. They are the loveliest people you could ever wish to meet. I think everyone is devastated because she seemed the kind of girl who didn’t have a bad bone in her body.
‘She was extremely pleasant and homely. She lived for her daughters and Paul. The family will be heartbroken.
Police search a bank alongside the River Wyre close to where missing the missing mother of two was last seen on Friday morning
‘Every week her parents go to Nicola’s and pick their grandchildren up and come back here. I can’t imagine what they are going through and they just have no idea where she could be.
‘It has made us quite upset. Nicola had a nice family and a nice job and she was a lovely person.’
Police are appealing for any information on her whereabouts. Ms Bulley is described as white, 5ft 3in, with light brown shoulder-length hair.
At the time of her disappearance she was wearing a long black gilet jacket with a hood, black jeans and olive green ankle wellington boots. Her hair was in a ponytail.
In an update on Monday, police said they are keeping an ‘open mind’ about what happened but do not believe Ms Bulley was attacked.
Police are searching for the missing mother and are concerned as to her whereabouts
Mr Ansell said he or Ms Bulley, also known as Nikki, would drop the children, aged nine and six, off at a local primary school before taking Willow for a walk along the river nearby.
Ms Bulley did the school run before heading for the dog walk on Friday, police indicated.
Nicola Bulley called foggy path where she walked her dog ‘spooky’: READ MORE
‘I got a call from the school regarding somebody who had found Willow, Nikki’s phone and the dog lead and harness on the bench,’ Mr Ansell, who then called the police, said.
Superintendent Sally Riley from Lancashire Police told the Mirror that Ms Bulley’s phone was still on an active call when it was found: ‘It was on a meeting call, and that was still live. It was connected to the conference call and that hadn’t been terminated.’
The officer told a press conference that fears for Ms Bulley are growing as time passes.
She said: ‘The police are keeping a really open mind about what could have happened but we do believe that the likelihood is that Nicola has gone missing and this is not a crime inquiry.
‘We’ve mounted a really intensive operation to try to find Nicola. We’ve got a large area to search. People do go missing but clearly as time goes on we become more and more concerned for Nicola.
‘But we’re very much hoping that we will find something to try to bring her home safe and well soon.
‘We appeal for anyone who may have been driving through the village of St Michael’s last Friday morning at about 9.15am or who may have dashcam footage that could be of use to us, or people who may have been dog-walking in the area or on the tow path, to come forward. They can ring 101 or, if they have a sighting of Nicola, 999.’
Searches have been carried out by Lancashire Police, using a helicopter, drones and dogs with support from Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue team and the North West Underwater Search Team.
Locals have also organised searches in the area.
- Anybody with information can call 101, quoting log 473 of January 27, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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