After being asked by the coroner to confirm her cause of death, police divers return to the river where Nicola Bulley’s body was discovered.
Today, police divers returned to the river where Nicola Bulley’s body was discovered.
Specialists were filmed in Lancashire’s River Wyre, less than a mile from the bank where the mother of two went missing on January 27, sparking a massive 23-day manhunt.
Ms Bulley’s partner, 44-year-old Paul Ansell, raised the alarm after a villager discovered their spaniel running loose near a bench overlooking the river. Ms Bulley’s phone had been abandoned on the bench.
Dr. James Adeley, Senior Coroner for Lancashire, has asked Lancashire Police to return to the water for further investigation into her death and what happened before she was discovered in the reeds on February 20.
According to a senior national police source with experience in similar cases, the decision to send divers back in demonstrates how seriously the investigation is being taken.
‘The coroner clearly wants more answers and potential evidence,’ according to the insider.
Lancashire Police have been ordered by the coroner to return to the river to assist with Nicola’s upcoming inquest, which will determine her cause of death.
On Tuesday, April 4, footage from the scene shows divers working in the Wyre near its weir.
‘The investigation will take time to complete to ensure that as complete a picture of the facts concerning Ms Bulley’s death is presented at the inquest,’ said a spokesman for HM Coroner. This will help the family understand what happened.
As part of this process, HM Senior Coroner has requested that Lancashire Constabulary produce information gathered during Ms Bulley’s search so that it can be considered as part of the investigation.
The divers’ footage shows police activity. The divers can be seen wading through the water near the weir, near where the 45-year-old’s phone and her dog Willow were discovered the morning she went missing.
The divers scaled the weir, with one ‘floating on his back’ in the water.
They were then videotaped wading through the water at various depths.
Ms Bulley’s body was discovered in reeds and undergrowth a mile downstream from the weir on February 19, but the cause of death has not been released.
On Monday, June 26, an inquest into her death will be held at Preston County Hall.
The divers returned to the River Wyre as part of the investigation into Nicola Bulley’s death, according to Lancashire Police.
We can confirm that this is us doing some work under the direction of HM Coroner,’ a police spokesman said
Lancashire Police is under investigation for its handling of the case.
The police were widely chastised for disclosing Ms Bulley’s struggles with alcohol and the perimenopause two weeks into the search after she went missing near St Michael’s on Wyre.
Lancashire Constabulary also failed to explain why Ms Bulley’s body was discovered after 23 days, as well as how it handled social media sleuths who filmed themselves in back gardens looking for the 45-year-old mortgage adviser.
Jason Rothwell, a psychic, discovered her body. In February, an inquest into her death was opened and adjourned. Ms Bulley was identified by dental records, according to coroner Dr James Adeley during the four-minute hearing at Preston Coroner’s Court.
The remainder of the evidence, he added, “will require further evaluation,” and no cause of death was given. The inquest will resume this summer.
Ms Bulley’s previous interactions with police have already been investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct. A welfare check was conducted at her home 17 days before she went missing.
And the Information Commissioner’s Office, which focuses on data privacy, has made preliminary inquiries with the force to learn why Ms Bulley’s personal information was revealed at a press conference.
Police had searched the stretch of river where Nicola was discovered at least twice.
Since the mother of two went missing, professional teams have been scouring the length of the River Wyre.
Yet it was a simple Sunday stroll by a man and a woman that sparked a massive police operation that has left Ms Bulley’s family heartbroken.
At 11.36 a.m., the couple noticed something in an outcrop of trees and undergrowth along the bank and called 999.
Two police officers rushed to the scene, putting the entire area on high alert. A witness saw the man point to the reeds and tell an officer, “It was a body.” It is located down there. It was a woman’s body. There is unquestionably a body down there.’
As one of the cops launched a drone to take a closer look, the walker made his way down towards the bank. A police helicopter arrived minutes later, the sound of its rotors echoing across the surrounding fields and alerting the media. Police patrol cars were quick to arrive.
Officers cleared the area aggressively as a massive cordon was erected, a sign of the pressure cooker Lancashire Constabulary had found itself in.
Divers arrived shortly before 2 p.m., just as Detective Superintendent Rebecca Smith, the senior investigating officer, arrived, after police vans and officers on foot had secured a half-mile radius around the scene.
The police activity quickly spread throughout St Michael’s on Wyre.
