A man and woman have been arrested on suspicion of sending abusive messages to local parish councillors over missing mum Nicola Bulley.
Ms Bulley, 45, vanished while walking her springer spaniel dog Willow alongside the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre on 27 January. She had dropped off her daughters, aged six and nine, at school and was on her usual walk when she disappeared.
On Tuesday, Lancashire Police said a 49-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of malicious communications offences.
The force added the man has been bailed until May 12 and inquiries are “ongoing”.
The two arrests came after Inskip with Sowerby Parish received “vile” telephone calls over Nicola’s disappearance at the weekend.
Earlier on Tuesday, Wyre Council said it had temporarily removed contact details for “parish and town council members”.
In a statement, Wyre Council leader Michael Vincent said: “We appreciate the emotional gravity of the situation; however we will not tolerate any form of abuse of any of our elected members of Wyre Borough Council or any of the town and parish councils within our borders or our staff.
“The community has shown great strength and resilience during the investigation and we urge everyone to continue to show compassion and empathy.
“It is a shame that we have had to take this step at such a difficult time and appropriate steps are being taken to ensure that residents are still able to contact their elected representatives.”
The council added: “Wyre Council will log any reports of abuse and these will be forwarded to the police. Please be respectful.”
Its chief executive Garry Payne said: “Everyone is deeply saddened by the ongoing Nicola Bulley case and our thoughts are with the family and friends.
“We are supporting Lancashire Police where required and we urge everyone to remain respectful at this time.”
The focus of the police search has now shifted from where Ms Bulley vanished to further downstream, towards where the River Wyre empties into the Irish Sea at Morecambe Bay.
A dinghy with two officers on board could be seen on the water on Thursday, while an orange rescue boat was also spotted appearing to do sweeps of the river off Knott End-on-Sea, at the mouth of the bay, around 10 miles from where the mortgage adviser’s phone was found on a bench, still connected to a work call.
