A close friend of missing 45-year-old Nicola Bulley has shared a plea online in an attempt to dispel misinformation about the case.
Tilly Ann, a close friend of the missing mother of two, has outlined 11 pieces of information she feels the public should know about the investigation. Amid rampant online discussion about the case, Ms Ann has said it is “disgusting” that she has had to issue this statement to curb online sleuths.
With the permission of Ms Bulley’s “incredibly close” family before posting, she notes that the only CCTV camera “that would have seen everything” is not working.
Ms Ann also confirms that both Ms Bulley and her partner, Paul Ansell, mostly work from home which explains why he was there the day she went missing. With CCTV lining their house, Ms Bulley’s friend pens that “there is a reason why Paul has never been a suspect.”
“Family and friends need these accusations to stop immediately”, she wrote. “That fact that I’ve had to write this is disgusting.”
According to Ms Ann, Ms Bulley is an “incredibly strong swimmer” and both she and Mr Ansell complete this walk regularly. He is “very well known in the community” and “very well recognised.”
On Friday, Lancashire Police confirmed that their main working hypothesis was that Ms Bulley had fallen into the River Wyre.
This theory includes a tennis ball that Ms Bulley may have been retrieving for her dog. However, close friend Emma White has dismissed suggestions the mother-of-two would have been carrying a tennis ball in the first place.
“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.
Ms Ann’s social media post substantiates Ms White’s claims. The couple “rarely” take the tennis ball out on walks with Willow as she is “very protective” over it, Ms Ann writes.
The 11 facts confirmed by Ms Ann are as follows:
1. Paul Ansell and Nicola Bulley mostly work from home, which is why he was there that day
2. They both do this walk regularly, and Paul is very well-known in the community and very well recognised
3. The dog never has her harness on for a chunk of the walk. Mr Ansell and Ms Bulley remove it at the gate of the top field and then put it back on again when they leave
4. Mr Ansell and Ms Bulley rarely take the ball out for walks with Willow now as she is very protective over it, and it hasn’t made an appearance on walks in a while
5. Ms Bulley would often put her phone on loudspeaker whilst talking
6. Willow, the dog, was found very close to the bench and the harness. The harness was found on the floor, not on the bench
7. Ms Bulley is an incredibly strong swimmer
8. Ms Bulley drove to the school to drop her two daughters off, left her car there and walked to the river
9. The dog was dry when found by a member of the public
10. The dog has since returned
11. There is CCTV at the back of the caravan park. However, the only camera that isn’t working is the one that would have seen everything.
Ms Bulley has not been seen since the morning of 27 January, when she walked her dog along the banks of the River Wyre.
Lancashire Police subsequently launched a missing person investigation, which it insists is “not” a “suspicious” case, but rather the sad tale of “a missing person.”
