Ongoing case; Nicola Bulley
Nicola Bulley, 45, was last seen a week ago (January 27th 2023) walking next to the River Wyre in St Michael's on Wyre in Lancashire. Ms Bulley was last seen walking her dog, Willow, near the River Wyre after dropping her two children off at primary school. The spaniel was found about 25 minutes after Ms Bulley was last seen by another dog walker at approximately 09:10 GMT.
A major search for Ms Bulley has been continuing, involving police divers, drones and a helicopter - but as yet, nothing has been found to explain her disappearance. Lancashire Police believe she may have fallen in the river. But Ms Bulley's sister, Louise Cunningham, urged people to "keep an open mind" about what might have happened, insisting there was "no evidence whatsoever" that she had fallen into the river. In a post on Facebook, she said: "Please keep sharing my Nikki", adding that suggestions she had fallen into the river were "just a theory".
Ms Bulley's friend, Emma White, said police were working on extracting data from Ms Bulley's Fitbit watch. "The Fitbit had not been synced since Tuesday," she said, adding: "The police are trying other ways to try to get information from it."
On Saturday, police released an image of a potential witness who was seen in the area at the time.
Police searching for Nicola Bulley have said they want to trace a “key witness” who was seen pushing a pram in the area near where the dog walker went missing. CCTV images have been released of a woman, dressed in a yellow coat and pushing a pram, who was in St Michael’s on Wyre on the morning of 27 January, when the 45-year-old mortgage adviser was last seen.
The woman was seen walking along Garstang Road/Blackpool Lane in the village of St Michael’s, from the direction of Allotment Lane towards the Grapes pub, at about 8.22am. She is again seen walking on Allotment Lane towards Garstang Road just under 20 minutes later.
A Lancashire police spokesperson said: “It is believed that the female in question may have walked along the river path during these times and so detectives want to speak to her and urge her to get in touch.”
Ms Bulley's partner, Paul Ansell, said he would "never lose hope" of finding her.
Police have urged locals to look out along the river for clothing that Ms Bulley was last seen wearing. This included an ankle-length black, quilted gilet jacket, a black Engelbert Strauss waist-length coat, black jeans, green walking socks, ankle-length green Next wellies, a necklace and the Fitbit, which is pale blue.
08:43 - Ms Bulley walked along the path by the River Wyre, having dropped her children off at school
08:47 - A dog walker, who knows Ms Bulley, saw her walking along the lower field.
08:53 - Ms Bulley sent an email to her boss
09:01 - She logged into a Teams call
09:10 - A witness, who knows Ms Bulley, saw her on the upper field walking with her dog Willow
09:20 - Police inquiries suggest her phone was on the bench
09:30 - The Teams call ended but she stayed logged on
About 09:35 - Ms Bulley's mobile phone and Willow were found at a riverside bench
