Nicola Bulley inquest: Live updates as first day of inquest into death of mother-of-two in River Wyre begins
Ms Bulley, 45, went missing after dropping her daughters, aged six and nine, at school, then taking her usual dog walk along the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire, on January 27. Her phone, still connected to a work Teams call, was found on a bench overlooking the water.
Ms Bulley, a mortgage adviser originally from near Chelmsford but living in Inskip, was immediately deemed a “high risk” missing person, sparking a huge police search operation, with hundreds of local search volunteers and intense media and public interest.
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Hide AdPrivate underwater search specialists were also called in by her family amid a conspiratorial social media frenzy fuelling waves of sightseers and content creators visiting the scene. Both police and media faced criticism after her body was found in the river around a mile farther downstream from the bench, on February 19.
Police had urged people not to speculate about the disappearance and maintained from early on there were no suspicious circumstances and that Ms Bulley may have gone into the water due to an “issue” with her springer spaniel dog, Willow.
The inquest, expected to last two days, will begin at the County Hall, Preston, before Dr James Adeley, Senior Coroner for Lancashire. Follow the latest updates below.
Nicola Bulley inquest as coroner probes mum-of-two’s death - latest updates
Key Events
- Evidence surrounding Nicola Bulley’s death to be heard over two days at County Hall in Preston
- The mother-of-two died of drowning, hearing hears
- There is no suggestion of any foul play according to the experts called to speak on Monday morning
Video footage
Taking us through the images, DC Thackray is explaining to Dr Adeley how difficult it is to get out of the water near the bench.
The hearing is now going to be shown video footage of DC Thackray at the scene of where Nicola was last seen in April. Taking a camera from the bench down into the water.
She was found around 1.5miles down the river.
“Cold water shock”
On the day it is beleived Nicola went in water it was just 4 degress celsius, which would have felt more like freezing.
“If feel in accidentally, cold water shock would probably have taken effect,” DC Thackray says in the video being shown to the hearing.
Water flow
The water looks quite calm in the video, but DC Thackray believes on January 27, the last day Nicola was seen, there was a downstream flow that was about twice as fast.
DC Thackray working on the theory that Nicola fell into the water, seized up and floated down stream.
He estimates she would have floated at a “metre a second” downstream.
More footage from the river
In parts of the video, shot in April, DC Thackray is in bits of the River Wyre where it is too deep to stand. He doesn’t need to swim though and is being pushed along by the flow of the water, which he says is at a “gentle walking pace”.
It is believed to have been far faster on January 27. DC Thackray says on that day when they searched the river, you could swim against the current but it required real effort.
Police presence
Images show police patrolling outside County Hall amid fears or people trying to potentially disrupt proceedings, such was the social media interest in the case.
Water depth
On the day Nicola Bulley was last seen the deepest part of the water was 4.6metres. She was 154cm tall.
Next witnesses
Professor Michael Tipton and Dr Patrick Morgan will now give evidence as experts in drowning and how bodies react when exposed to cold water.
Professor Tipton descrbied as a “world expert” when it comes to cold water immersion.
“Particularly powerful”
“There would be a particularly powerful cold shock response,” says Professor Tipton, when discussing the temperature of the water in the River Wyre on January 27.
Considering Nicola’s size, it would have taken one of two breaths in of water to be a lethal dose for drowning. That would be just under two litres of water.