Police confirm body found in River Wyre is that of…

Police confirm body found in River Wyre is that of missing Nicola Bulley

Police have confirmed they body recovered from the River Wyre is that of missing Nicola Bulley.

Lancashire Police said it was called to the scene, near Rawcliffe Road in St Michaels, at 11.36am on Sunday. An underwater search team and specialist officers entered the water and recovered a body.

It is understood that a man and a woman walking their dog discovered the body and called police.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Lancashire Police assistant chief constable Peter Lawson said: “Sadly, we are now able to confirm that yesterday we recovered Nicola Bulley from the River Wyre.

“Nicola’s family have been informed and are of course devastated. Our thoughts are with them at this time as well as with all her loved ones and the wider community.

“We recognise the huge impact that Nicola’s disappearance has had on her family and friends, but also on the people of St Michael’s.

“We would like to thank all of those who have helped during what has been a hugely complex and highly emotional investigation.

“Today’s development is not the outcome any of us would have wanted, but we hope that it can at least start to provide some answers for Nicola’s loved ones, who remain foremost in our thoughts.”

The body was found around a mile from where Nicola, 45, was last seen.

The mother-of-two had been walking her dog in St Michael’s on Wyre after dropping her daughters, aged six and nine, at school on January 27. Her partner, Paul Ansell, earlier told Sky News about his 'agony' after the body was recovered.

He said: “No words right now, just agony. We’re all together, we have to be strong.”

The investigation into Ms Bulley’s disappearance has attracted widespread speculation as well as criticism of the police response. The force came under fire after making Ms Bulley’s struggles with alcohol and peri-menopause public three weeks after she vanished.

In a press conference on Wednesday, they revealed the mother-of-two was classed as a “high-risk” missing person immediately after Mr Ansell reported her disappearance, “based on a number of specific vulnerabilities”. They later added in a statement that Ms Bulley, from Inskip in Lancashire, had stopped taking her HRT medication.

A public backlash and interventions from the Government and shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper followed, with Lancashire Constabulary confirming a date had been set for an internal review into the investigation. A spokeswoman said: “A review of the investigation is diarised and will be conducted by our head of crime detective Chief Superintendent Pauline Stables.”

The Home Secretary has said she will see what Lancashire Police’s own inquiries “come back with” when asked if there would be an external review into the force’s handling of the case. Suella Braverman said she was not “wholly satisfied” with responses given by the chief constable when she demanded an explanation as to why some of Ms Bulley’s personal details were put into the public domain.

But Ms Braverman said the force’s own investigation into how the case was handled must “carry out its own process”.