Mother-of-two Nicola Bulley could have started drowning within seconds of entering the cold river where her body was found, the inquest into her death has heard. Professor Michael Tipton, a world expert in drowning, said there would have been a “fairly rapid incapacitation” after Ms Bulley went into the River Wyre on the morning of January 27.
It may have been just seconds before she began to lose consciousness, the hearing was told on Monday. Prof Tipton said he agrees with Home Office pathologist Alison Armour, who conducted a post-mortem examination and concluded Ms Bulley drowned.
He said Ms Armour’s finding of water in the stomach and lungs is consistent with a “gasp response” under water, with liquid entering the body’s organs, which he said is seen in two-thirds of drowning victims. Ms Bulley vanished after dropping off her daughters, six and nine, at school, and taking her usual dog walk along the river in St Michael’s, Lancashire, on January 27.
