Nicola Bulley: Arrests over malicious messages to councillors

Nicola Bulley has not been seen since 27 January

Two people have been arrested after malicious messages were sent to a number of parish councillors over missing Nicola Bulley.

The 45-year-old went missing on 27 January after a riverside dog walk in St Michael's on Wyre in Lancashire.

A man, aged 49, from Manchester was arrested on suspicion of malicious communications offences, Lancashire Police said.

A woman, 20, of Oldham has also been held on suspicion of the same offence.

The force said the man has since been bailed until 12 May while the woman remains in custody, adding inquiries were "ongoing".

Wyre Council removed the contact details of Inskip with Sowerby Parish councillors after several received "vile" telephone calls over the weekend in relation to Ms Bulley's case.

Mounted police have been searching for the missing dog walker

Leader of the council Michael Vincent described the messages as "vile" and said it would "not tolerate" abuse of elected members.

"It is a shame we have had to take this step at such a difficult time and appropriate steps are being taken to ensure that residents are still able to contact their elected representatives," he said.

Earlier the mother of missing Claudia Lawrence said Ms Bulley's disappearance brought back "painful" memories.

Joan Lawrence's 35-year-old daughter has not been seen since she failed to arrive for work at the University of York in March 2009.

• The search for Nicola Bulley: What we know so far

The force is working on one hypothesis the mortgage adviser could have fallen into the river during her walk after dropping her daughters, aged six and nine, at school that morning.

Ms Bulley was last seen by another dog walker at about 09:10 GMT.

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

Ms Bulley's partner, Paul Ansell, has said he was "100% convinced" she did not fall into the water.

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