Police investigating the disappearance of Nicola Bulley have revealed that the missing 45-year-old has 'recently resurfaced' health issues.
It comes after a press conference today, in which senior officers announced that the mum of two is a 'vulnerable' and 'high risk' missing person.
This evening, a statement on the Lancashire Police's website reads: “We have described how Nicola had some vulnerabilities at the time she went missing and we just wanted to expand on that a little.
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“Sadly, it is clear from speaking to Paul and the family that Nicola had in the past suffered with some significant issues with alcohol which were brought on by her ongoing struggles with the menopause and that these struggles had resurfaced over recent months. This caused some real challenges for Paul and the family.
“As a result of those issues, a response car staffed by both police and health professionals attended a report of concern for welfare at Nicola’s home address on January 10th. No one has been arrested in relation to this incident, but it is being investigated.
“It is an unusual step for us to take to go into this level of detail about someone’s private life, but we felt it was important to clarify what we meant when we talked about vulnerabilities to avoid any further speculation or misinterpretation.”
Nicola was last seen walking her springer spaniel Willow alongside the River Wyre, January 27. Her phone was later found by a dog walker, still connected to a work call from her job as a mortgage adviser - with Willow also found nearby.
Earlier today, Detective Superintendent Rebecca Smith - who is the lead investigator for Lancashire Police in the case - spoke to reporters at a packed press conference. She said: “As soon as she was reported missing, following the information that was provided to the police by her partner Paul, and based on a number of specific vulnerabilities that we were made aware of, Nicola was graded as high-risk.
“It’s normal in any missing person investigation that you obviously gather as much information at an early stage about the person in question, which is no different, and we did that with Paul. I’m not going to go into the details of those individual vulnerabilities.
I’ve asked you to respect the family, who are going through unimaginable pain and distress at this moment. But those vulnerabilities based our decision-making in terms of grading Nicola as high-risk, and have continued to form part of my investigation throughout.”
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