Police have confirmed that a body discovered at the River Wyre in Lancashire is that of missing mum Nicola Bulley.
The devastating discovery was made by two walkers on Sunday, February 19 - 23 days after she was reported missing.
Police notified the public and made the announcement at a press conference on Monday evening. The body of the mum-of-two was seen in reeds at the edge of the river around a mile from where the 45-year-old was last spotted on January 27.
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A massive police presence was seen in the area and a force helicopter, divers and drones were also on site along with a forensics team who erected a tent at the site.
Police had said on Sunday that they had notified Nicola’s heartbroken family members that a body had been discovered and have now officially confirmed that this was the missing mother, the Daily Record reports.
A monumental search effort had been undertaken to try to locate the missing woman over the last three weeks with search dogs and diving specialists working tirelessly to find answers.
The main hypothesis that detectives had followed was that the mortgage adviser had fallen into the river within a 10-minute window between the last sighting and her phone being found on a park bench.
Information released by police said that the phone was still connected to a Microsoft Teams work call, while the family dog Willow was found running off the lead.
During the weeks of her disappearance, police spoke to hundreds of people and received over 1,500 pieces of information related to their enquiries.
Officers leading the case have consistently stressed that they were continuing to treat Nicola's disappearance as a missing person's case, and have stated on several occasions that they do not believe the case involved any "third-party involvement".
Lancashire Police previously came under fire for releasing personal details of Nicola's life. Detectives disclosed to the public that she had been struggling with alcohol and her use of hormone replacement therapy to cope with the peri-menopause.
Officers later disclosed that they had been called out her home on January 10, which resulted in no further action. The force have since compiled an internal investigation into the disclosures and referred themselves to police watchdogs over the January 10 visit.
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