Nicola Bulley search: What we know about her disappearance

Nicola Bulley vanished on a dog walk in St Michael's on Wyre

Nicola Bulley vanished on a riverside dog walk in St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire on 27 January.

Lancashire Police said they "sadly recovered a body" from the River Wyre on 19 February, but were unable to say if it was Ms Bulley as formal identification had not yet been carried out.

What do we know about her disappearance?

Nicola's last-known movements

That Friday morning looked like any other day for Nicola Bulley and her family.

She carried out the usual morning routines. She loaded up her car with her dog Willow before driving to the local school to drop off her two daughters, aged six and nine.

The 45-year-old left her parked car in St Michael's on Wyre and took Willow for a riverside walk.

But she never returned and her family still do not know why.

Ms Bulley walked along the path by the River Wyre at 08:43 GMT and was seen by a fellow dog walker, who knows her, when she was in the lower field.

She went on to send an email to her boss and logged into a Teams conference call for her job as a mortgage adviser, as she would normally do.

She was last seen by another dog walker at about 09:10, when she was on the upper field.

About 25 minutes later her phone, still connected to the call, was found on a bench on a steep riverbank overlooking the water, along with the dog lead and harness on the ground.

What do police think happened?

Detectives said their "working hypothesis" was she had gone into the river. They are treating the case as a missing person inquiry and do not believe her disappearance was suspicious.

Lancashire Police Assistant Chief Constable Peter Lawson said: "There is no evidence to indicate a criminal aspect or third-party involvement in Nicola's disappearance."

Det Supt Rebecca Smith, who is leading the investigation, said the 45-year-old was designated a "high-risk" missing person from the beginning of the investigation because of a "number of specific vulnerabilities".

The force later expanded on this by revealing she suffered with "some significant issues with alcohol" and "ongoing struggles with the menopause" and officers were called to a concern for welfare report at her home on 10 January.

Health professionals also attended, with the force adding no arrests were made but the incident was being investigated.

Det Supt Smith said she had formed a number of hypotheses, including, "one, that she possibly could have gone into the river, that there could have been third-party involvement and lastly, that she could have left the area voluntarily."

"Those hypotheses have remained in place throughout, are reviewed regularly."

A force spokesperson earlier said they could "say with confidence" that Ms Bulley had not left the field "via Rowanwater, either through the site itself or via the piece of land at the side" and did not return from the fields along Allotment Lane or via the path at the rear of the Grapes pub on to Garstang Road.

Inquiries have been focussed on the river path which leads to Garstang Road, an area not covered by CCTV.

What are they doing to find Nicola?

Nicola Bulley has not been seen since 27 January

Police searching for Nicola said they "sadly recovered a body" after they were called to the River Wyre near Rawcliffe Road at 11:36 GMT on Sunday.

Lancashire Police said they were in the process of identifying the body and were treating the death as unexplained.

Officers had been following about 500 lines of inquiry. Nearly 40 detectives have sifted through hundreds of hours of CCTV, dashcam footage and tip-offs from the public.They had been seeking some 700 motorists seen in the area at the time of her disappearance.

They have used police divers in the river, drones and helicopters as part of the search, spoken to several key witnesses and made a number of appeals.

Detectives have also analysed data from Ms Bulley's mobile phone and her Fitbit smart watch, and searched derelict houses and empty caravans in the vicinity.

Det Supt Smith said they had been unfortunately unable to get any further information from the watch, as it had not been updated for several days.

The River Wyre, which is about 32 miles (52km) long, flows through Lancashire to join the Irish Sea at Fleetwood.

Police extended their search in the water to Morecambe Bay near Knott End on 9 February.

Why was a specialist diving team involved?

A specialist diving team used sonars to help search for Ms Bulley

Ms Bulley's family had requested the help of a specialist diving team, Specialist Group International (SGI), which assisted the police in the search of the river.

After a few days, SGI said it had completed its work and left the scene.

The firm's founder Peter Faulding said his team was pulling out because he believed Ms Bulley was "categorically not" in the area of river where police believe she had gone in.

"We've done very thorough searches all the way down to the weir," he said.

"If Nicola was in that river I would have found her - I guarantee you that - and she's not in that section of the river.

"That area is completely negative - there is no sign of Nicola in that area."

He said police divers had already dived it three times "extremely thoroughly".

Mr Faulding added: "The main focus will be the police investigation down the river, which leads out to the estuary."

What has been the reaction to Nicola's disappearance?

Heather Gibbons said some speculation was "incredibly hurtful"

Hundreds of volunteers have been helping in the ongoing search, with some of Ms Bulley's friends organising teams of people to scour the area.

The turnout for the search had been "amazing", Ms Bulley's friend Heather Gibbons, said.

Meanwhile, thousands of people have been following and commenting on the case online, with many sending love and best wishes to the family.

Others though have been sharing speculation, described by Ms Gibbons as "vile" and "incredibly hurtful".

She added: "The speculation is massive. I mean it's human nature - everyone's going to have their thoughts, their theories, everyone will be speculating.

"But to see some of the vile speculation online - some of the theories that are incredibly, incredibly hurtful - I don't think people are realising that the family are sitting at home and are able to access and see all of that."

She said she was concerned that "as [Ms Bulley's daughters] get older, they will be able to look back and they will be able to see everything that was said".

Ms Gibbons also said the area appeared to have become a "tourist spot", beyond those helping search and people had been turning up to "do personal social media things" which was "hard" to see.

Mounted police have been searching for the missing dog walker

Police too have condemned social media abuse of those helping with the inquiry, saying it was "totally unacceptable".

Det Supt Smith also told of "persistent myths" about the case and said a red van seen in the area was not being treated as suspicious and a "derelict house which is across the other side of the river has been searched three times, with the permission of the owner, and Nicola is not in there".

The detective also confirmed that a glove found near to where Ms Bulley disappeared did not belong to her.

She said ill-informed speculation had been a "distraction" and officers had been "inundated with false information, accusations and rumours".

"In 29 years' police service I've never seen anything like it. Some of it's been quite shocking and really hurtful to the family," she added.

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