Unanswered questions over missing dog walker mystery as family dispute police theory

Lancashire Police believe Nicola Bulley may have fallen into the river, but this claim is disputed by her friends and family

The disappearance of Nicola Bulley has puzzled police since she was last seen on the morning of 27 January.

The mother-of-two disappeared while on her regular dog walk in the quiet village of St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire.

Dropping her children off at school, she took her spaniel Willow for a stroll by the river and was sighted at around 9am by a witness but despite an extensive search, she has yet to be found.

Nicola Bulley has not been seen in more than a week (Nicola Bulley/Facebook)

In a police conference held on February 3, Lancashire Police stated that their main working hypothesis was that Ms Bulley “fell” into the river, and was “not suspicious”, but the “tragic case of a missing person.”

But Ms Bulley’s family contest that idea and as the mystery continues, we look at unanswered questions surrounding her disappearance.

What happened in the unexplained ten minutes?

Lancashire Police have a ten-minute window in which they cannot account for Ms Bulley’s movements.

At approximately 9.10am, a witness – somebody who knows Ms Bulley – saw her on the upper field walking her dog.

Police know that at 9.20am, her phone was on the bench it was later discovered on. The phone was still connected to a teams call she logged on to at 9.01am.

The call ended at 9.30am and her mobile phone and her dog were found by the bench at 9.35am. Police continue to investigate what might have happened between the witness sighting and the phone being placed on the bench.

Substantial CCTV in the surrounding areas has ruled out that Ms Bulley left the park via the majority of the gates. The path leading to Garstang Lane, however, has proven to be a black spot.

Ms Bulley and her partner Paul Ansell, who has said he will ‘never lose hope’ (Nicola Bulley/Facebook)

The ‘bone dry’ dog

Ms Bulley’s dog Willow was found by a member of the public, and appeared distressed. Willow’s lead and harness were subsequently discovered on a nearby bench along with the mobile phone, indicating the dog had been allowed to roam free.

Police have theorised that an ‘issue’ with the dog may have led Ms Bulley to the river’s edge, and that she may have slipped in as a result.

However, the dog was “bone dry” when found, suggesting it had not entered the river either before or after its owner vanished.

Ms Bulley often shared photos of her riverside runs on social media, in which her dog can be seen next to the banks of the River Wyre.

Ms Bulley with her dog, she regularly walked with along the route (PA Media)

Was there a tennis ball?

The police theory includes a tennis ball that Ms Bulley may have been retrieving for her dog.

“I’m not aware of a dog ball being retrieved but it’s possible a ball could have rolled down the steep bank close to the water and Ms Bulley was bending down to pick it up”, Superintendent Sally Riley said on Thursday. “We assume the dog didn’t get into the river, but we don’t know why Nicola may have if she did”, she added. “It’s such a strange and perplexing case.”

However, close friend Emma White dismissed suggestions the mother-of-two would have been carrying a ball in the first place.

Willow would “pester” for a ball to be thrown so as a result, Ms Bulley stopped taking one on walks Ms White said.

“Willow used to love a tennis ball, but it used to disturb the walk so they haven’t had the tennis ball since way into last year”, Ms White told Sky News on Saturday morning. “There was definitely no ball”, she added.

A map details Ms Bulley’s last known movements (Datawrapper/The Independent)

Why did she not leave the conference call?

When police found Ms Bulley’s phone still active on a bench by the river it was still connected to a conference call that had ended minutes earlier. It has since emerged that she was only an observer and could not be seen by other participants.

Ben Pociecha, the director of Exclusively Mortgages where Ms Bulley works as a mortgage advisor, confirmed she had logged onto a Teams meeting at 9.01am.

“It seems as if she was muted and didn’t have her camera on,” Mr Pociecha told The Telegraph. “She was listening in whilst walking her dog. There were numerous parties involved in this. A lot of people attended the call. The police are investigating the call.”

Speaking on Sky News, forensic search specialist Peter Faulding speculated over whether Ms Bulley’s phone had been left deliberately.

“We don’t know if this has been left by a third party or Nicola as a decoy to drag all the resources down to the river edge”, Mr Faulding said. “I’d be looking at how that got there in the first place. I would run our sonar along the river and I would see every part of that river and you could quickly confirm or deny any anomalies in that river.”

Officers on the River Wyre, in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire, as police continue their search (PA Wire)

Where are her possessions?

The only possessions linked to Ms Bulley found at the scene were her mobile phone, her dog’s harness and the lead.

Police have not yet located any other item belonging to Ms Bulley, but issued details of what she was last seen wearing at February 3’s press conference.

Lancashire Police have confirmed that Ms Bulley was wearing a quilted, ankle-length jacket with a black Engelbert Strauss waist-length coat on underneath which would likely have been “heavy”, “especially on someone who is of slight build and only 5 foot three”, Superintendent Riley told MailOnline.

She was also wearing tight-fitting black jeans, long green walking socks tucked into her jeans, ankle-length green Next wellies, a necklace and a pale blue Fitbit.

“It’s really important that the public pay heed to those very specific clothing descriptions please, because factual sightings of those items would be very useful to us”, Superintendent Riley confirmed during Friday’s press conference.