Hopes dashed after 23 days of heart-break and hapless policing: Tragic timeline in search for Nicola Bulley – as body is spotted by dogwalker less than a mile from spot she went missing
- Nicola Bulley’s partner Paul revealed family’s ‘agony’ after walker found a body
Police are today trying to identify if the body found in the River Wyre is Nicola Bulley.
The family of the missing mother-of-two now fear the worst with her partner Paul Ansell and their two children in ‘agony’ following the discovery on Sunday.
If it is Nikki, it marks the end of a 23-day search by Lancashire Police who face serious questions about how their investigation has been carried out.
The body was found by two walkers in some reeds less than a mile from the spot where Nikki was last seen. It is expected that Mr Ansell or another close relative will now be asked to help identify the body.
Police said they had searched the area where the body was found and a specialist diving team led by underwater search expert Peter Faulding declared that she wasn’t in the water.
Nicola Bulley, 45, and her partner Paul Ansell. The mother-of-two is missing and feared dead
The location on the River Wyre where a body was discovered during a search for Nicola Bulley
Police face questions after a body was found less than a mile from Nikki’s home
Friday, January 27
8.26am
Nicola Bulley leaves home with her two daughters, dropping them off at school.
8.43am
‘No words right now… just agony’: Nicola Bulley’s partner says his family ‘have to be strong’ as they face heart-breaking wait for formal ID of body pulled from River Wyre
She is seen walking her spaniel, Willow, along the path by the River Wyre.
8.53am
Nikki sends an email to her boss, followed by a message to a friend six minutes later.
9.01am
She logs onto a Microsoft Teams call for work.
9.10am
Last known sighting in a field near the river by a witness who knew her.
9.33am
Another dog walker finds her phone on a bench beside the river, with Willow nearby.
10.50am
Ms Bulley’s family and the school attended by her children are told about her disappearance.
11.01am
The mother of two is reported as missing.
Noon
Specialist officers begin foot patrols and start speaking to witnesses, friends and family.
12.18pm
Police drones deployed to search fields and immediate area.
1.10pm
Police helicopter joins the search.
1.14pm
Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service arrives at the scene with thermal imaging cameras and search dogs.
2.30pm
Mountain rescue teams and underwater search divers deployed.
Nikki close to where she was last seen with her dog Willow
January 29
Local residents organise a search.
January 30
Superintendent Sally Riley, from Lancashire Police, says officers are ‘keeping a really open mind’ but are not treating her disappearance as suspicious.
Ms Bulley’s partner, Paul Ansell, says he is in a ‘perpetual hell’ and their two little girls need ‘their mummy home.’
February 2
Ms Bulley’s parents and sister appeal on TV for help finding her, saying: ‘People don’t just vanish into thin air.’
February 3
Lancashire Police say they are working on the hypothesis that Ms Bulley may have fallen into the River Wyre and insist there is no suggestion of foul play.
February 5
The last images of Ms Bulley from her doorbell camera, which show her loading Willow into the car, are released to the media.
February 6
Private underwater search expert, Peter Faulding, and his team arrive to help.
Ten days since her disappearance. Mr Ansell says in a statement: ‘I have two little girls who miss their mummy desperately and who need her back.’
Workers from a private underwater search and recovery company, Specialist Group International, including CEO Peter Faulding (right) in St Michael’s on Wyre
February 7
Police reject suggestions Ms Bulley has been a victim of crime and reiterate their theory that she has fallen into the river.
The force urges the public to avoid ‘distressing’ speculation about what may have happened.
February 8
Mr Faulding calls off his search of the river, saying he is ‘baffled’, and she is ‘not there.’
Saying the river had provided ‘all the answers’ it could, but still left him ‘totally baffled’, he added: ‘We’ve done our job and we’ve cleared the areas that we were tasked with by Lancashire Police and we are happy that there is nothing in that water.
‘I’m happy we never found a body and Paul is relieved we found nothing up there. If she’s alive, I don’t know. It would be nice for the family to get some form of closure somehow.’
Police are also granted two dispersal orders to break up groups of amateur sleuths filming themselves on TikTok in the village.
Lancashire Police also condemned ‘grossly offensive’ social media messages aimed at Ms Bulley’s family and police, saying they ‘would not hesitate to take action’ against those responsible.
February 9
Police shift their search focus from the River Wyre out to the coast and Morecambe Bay, 13 miles downstream.
Almost two weeks after the mother-of-two vanished while walking her dog in a Lancashire village, officers said the focus of their hunt moved to the mouth of the river 13 miles away, with police boats now trawling the Irish Sea.
Nothing was found.
February 10
Paul Ansell (left), partner of missing mortgage adviser Nicola Bulley, 45, with Dan Walker
A lifeboat sweeps the mouth of the River Wyre multiple times where it meets the sea in the estuary of Morecambe Bay
Two-week anniversary of Ms Bulley’s disappearance. Mr Ansell gives a TV interview, saying he is ‘100 per cent convinced’ that she didn’t fall into the river.
He said: ‘People don’t just vanish into thin air, it’s absolutely impossible.
‘So something has happened. Something has happened.
Asked how he felt he said: ‘Anger, loads of frustration, confusion, disbelief, surrealism, nothing feels real. It just doesn’t feel real… I feel like I’m in the Truman show. Like.. I honestly believe I’m going to wake up at any moment…how are we even in this? We are good people.’
February 15
Assistant Chief Constable Peter Lawson (left) and Detective Superintendent Rebecca Smith of Lancashire Police on the day where the force revealed that Nikki battled alcohol problems and the menopause. The release of information so late in the investigation caused a scandal
Police say Ms Bulley is a ‘vulnerable’ and ‘high-risk’ missing person.
They later disclose she has ‘significant issues with alcohol’ brought on by struggles with the menopause – but are roundly criticised by the Prime Minister, Home Secretary, MPs and campaign groups.
The Home Secretary was ‘concerned’ by the decision of Lancashire Constabulary to release highly personal information about the 45-year-old mother of two.
The force sparked a backlash by revealing Ms Bulley’s struggles with alcohol and the menopause. Women’s campaigners said officers were trying to hide their ‘incompetence’. An ex-detective called it ‘astounding’.
And a former missing persons expert at Scotland Yard said the failure by police to state earlier why they thought Ms Bulley had drowned had created an ‘unnecessary circus’.
February 17
Ms Bulley’s family release a statement saying her decision to stop taking her HRT may have caused a crisis in her mental health.
The Information Commissioner announces he has launched an inquiry into Lancashire police’s conduct.
John Edwards said he will be asking Lancashire Police about its decision to disclose Ms Bulley’s struggles with alcohol and HRT.
He said in a statement: ‘Data protection law exists to ensure people’s personal information is used properly and fairly. This includes ensuring personal details are not disclosed inappropriately.’
‘Given the high-profile nature of this case, we will be asking Lancashire Police to set out how they reached the decision to disclose this information in due course.’
The force also refers itself to the Police watchdog and says it is conducting an internal review.
February 19
The moment a dog walker points out to a spot in the River Wyre, Lancashire, as police arrive on the scene
Police are told by a member of the public there is a body in the water a mile downstream from where Nicola was last seen alive. Police divers recover a body from the river.
Two walkers alerted police after spotting the body of a blonde woman tangled in the reeds of the River Wyre shortly before midday yesterday.
Two officers sped to the scene down river from where Ms Bulley’s phone was found on a bench after she took the family dog for a walk on January 27 after dropping her children at school.
The worrying discovery so close to St Michael’s on Wyre after three weeks of extensive searching will leave questions for police over why it took so long.
Senior Investigating Officer Rebecca Smith was seen arriving at the grassy riverbank, set behind a stone wall, shortly before Lancashire Police confirmed the discovery at 2.30pm.
The force said they were unable to confirm whether the body is of missing Ms Bulley as they wait for formal identification to be carried out, which could take several days.
A spokesman said: ‘We were called today at 11.36am to reports of a body in the River Wyre, close to Rawcliffe Road.
‘An underwater search team and specialist officers have subsequently attended the scene, entered the water and have sadly recovered a body.
‘No formal identification has yet been carried out, so we are unable to say whether this is Nicola Bulley at this time.
‘Procedures to identify the body are on-going. We are currently treating the death as unexplained.
‘Nicola’s family have been informed of developments and our thoughts are with them at this most difficult of times. We ask that their privacy is respected.’
February 20
Police officers walk across the Bridge at St.Michael on Wyre, Lancs, after a body was yesterday recovered from the river
Paul Ansell, 44, and their two daughters, aged six and nine, had held out hope that the 45-year-old, who vanished three weeks ago, was still alive.
But he said: ‘No words right now, just agony.’ His family is ‘in a lot of pain’ and ‘incredibly heartbroken’.
Local councillor Michael Vincent said: ‘I have made contact with the family, but it would be inappropriate to comment further.
‘All I can say is that they face an agonising wait. It is difficult to know what they are going through right now.
‘I just hope whatever comes of this – whether it is confirmation or not – that it brings them some peace.
‘The not knowing is causing them a lot of pain right now.’
Members of the BringNikkiHome Facebook page uploaded the police statement but disabled comments due to the sensitivity.
Ms Bulley’s parents Ernest, 73, and Dot, 72, were last seen leaving a poignant message of hope last Thursday near where she went missing.
At that time, they wrote: ‘We pray every day for you. Love you. Mum and dad xxx’ on yellow ribbons on a footbridge over the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre.
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