Nicola Bulley’s disappearance continues to confound police and public three weeks after the mortgage broker vanished in Lancashire.
The 45-year-old mother-of-two was logged into a Teams work call on her phone on Friday 27 January as she walked her dog, Willow, along their usual riverside route in the village of St Michael’s on Wyre.
But what happened next is shrouded in mystery.
There is a 10-minute window in which detectives cannot account for Ms Bulley’s movements – a blind spot believed by some to hold the key to what became of the missing woman.
At approximately 9.10am, a witness 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. A full timeline of her disappearance can be seen here.
CCTV in the surrounding areas has ruled out that Ms Bulley left the park via the majority of exit points. But fresh details shared by police this week suggest she could have left the field where she went missing via roads not covered by surveillance cameras.
“Our CCTV enquiries have focused on Nicola’s movements and whether she could have left the fields near to the river, whether that be via Allotment Lane, the river path leading to Garstang Road, or by Rowanwater at the top of the upper field,” Lancashire Constabulary said in a statement.
This latest hypothesis was expanded on at a press conference on Wednesday, during which detective superintendent Rebecca Smith, leading the investigation, said: “The area at the top of the field, Rowanwater, has CCTV that covers the gate that enters the field and the front of the site.
“That is working, the site managers have been cooperating with us and supporting this investigation at every stage. We can say that Nicola has not entered that area or left.
“What I can say – which we’ve established only yesterday – was that if Nicola had left out of the river path and turned right, she has not reached the Grapes pub.”
This map shows the key areas Ms Bulley was last traced to and possible exit points from the field, identified by police:
The force said that almost 40 detectives had sifted through hundreds of hours of CCTV, dashcam footage and tip-offs from the public.
During Wednesday’s conference, police took pains to stress they did not believe anyone had attacked or abducted Ms Bulley, that they believe she had gone into the water without anyone else being involved.
Ms Smith said: “From the iron bridge to the school there is nothing there, which is why it’s so important for the dash cam.
“Because even though they’re going to be tiny bite-size information, they’re not going to be as good as CCTV – we need to be able to piece together as much of that road as we can.”
From the last place she was sighted at approximately 9.10am, and where her phone was seen at 9.20am, there is a baffling 10-minute window where Ms Bulley could have walked or driven to the surrounding areas.
The Independent has mapped out the rough radius where the 45-year-old could have walked and driven to in those 10 minutes.
This map shows an estimated radius Ms Bulley could have walked to within 10 minutes:
This map shows the rough distance Ms Bulley could have gone in a car in the unexplained 10 minutes:
Some nearby locations within a 10-minute proximity are:
- Rowanwater
- Melissa Interior Design Limited
- Plexio UK Limited
- St Michaels Cattery
- The Spirit of Garstang Gin
- Devine Camping Pods
Rescue services have scoured the areas where Ms Bulley might have been on several occasions but have come up empty.
Asked on Wednesday if she hoped to find Ms Bulley alive, Ms Smith said: “I hope with all my heart that we find Nicola Bulley alive more than anything”.
But she said all the evidence suggested that Ms Bulley went down to the river and did not return.
Police said they will soon consider the “proportionality” of continuing the huge search in coming days.
Anyone with information or footage is asked to submit information through the Major Incident Public Portal (MiPP) at Public Portal (mipp.police.uk)
