Found Deceased UK - Nicola Bulley Last Seen Walking Dog Near River - St Michaels on Wyre (Lancashire) #6

[GTB72]

This seems to show a hip length blue jacket and knee length gilet. The description given was a black, waist length jacket and ankle length gilet. LE were quite emphatic about 'specific clothing,' which is why it's a bit odd that the confusion has occurred.

I don't think we can assume what she was wearing from NB's FB pages. The discrepancy is something LE can clear up with the help of PA probably.

I've googled ankle length black gilet and I haven't found one where the product is specifically called ankle length. I have come across ones that go below the knee and halfway down the shin. Beginning to think is just the terminology LP have decided to use.

Yet none of those coats, or the one from the home CCTV are ankle length.

I know if the water theory is accurate, it's very unlikely to make any difference between a knee length and ankle length coat, but in any kind of missing person enquiry, accuracy of description is vital

 

[Denominator]

Noted that if someone were to fall into even shallow cold water they would need to find a way to exit within minutes before being affected by cold water shock. Cold Water Shock – the Facts

 

[Dotta]

Hours before she vanished

Poignant moment Nicola Bulley's daughter spots search teams

Peter Faulding, a world-renowned forensics expert who is a diver for the police and has worked on hundreds of cases across the southeast, believes it is unlikely the river bank is the correct answer.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Lilbitcurious]

I've googled ankle length black gilet and I haven't found one where the product is specifically called ankle length. I have come across ones that go below the knee and halfway down the shin. Beginning to think is just the terminology LP have decided to use.

I found this
Screenshot

 

[ayrshireguy]

Divers are then basically diving blind using their fingers to feel IMO

Until you are right up at something. A body will literally come out at you from the dark.

 

[Andreee]

this is fantastic. I don't know why others are criticizing him, the more resources the better.

In the US they have a team called adventures with purpose and they do this sort of thing and they find bodies/cars/evidence etc in water where the police have repeatedly been unsuccessful, so this could be a really positive step forward in finding Nicola.

Absolutely! I was going to mention Adventures With Purpose as well. They have a very specific type of sonar equipment and the time and expertise to use it. They don't 'take away' from local LE but rather enhance it, and have become well accepted in N.America as helping the police sometimes (not needed all the time obviously)! Free services to loved ones. They have found loved ones in their vehicles underwater via sonar when other teams have not had the time or equipment to do so. But of course N.B. wasn't in a vehicle, and thick mud if there is any could be an issue in the river.

 

[GTB72]

I found this
Screenshot

Not seeing the screenshot I'm afraid. Can you post again please? Would like to see it.

 

[cottonweaver]

SGI already serve as the underwater search team for Essex, Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Thames Valley and Hampshire forces. They have the best sonar outside the military in the UK for this type of operation.

Essex police lost their underwater team in the noughties - funding cuts
'
Link: 'Yesterday the Essex Police Authority pulled the plug on the 50-year-old unit, making a saving of £53,000.
The meeting heard that Essex Police divers, based in Rayleigh and Burnham, were used operationally 60 times over the past two years and went on 57 training dives.'

Essex: Police unit axed to save money

The Essex Police diving unit has been axed in a budget the county's top officer described as "positive".

www.gazette-news.co.uk

Thames Valley lost theirs in 2014 - funding cuts.

Survey reveals police in Thames Valley fear cuts will result in poor public service and increased crime | Thames Valley Police Federation

www.tvpfed.org

I guess it will be a similar story for the other forces who use the private contractor. ( Not rocket science to work out the impact if all regional forces across nation lose access to PD's local & specialist teams)

Anyway, here's some details from a former Sussex underwater LE specialist - Sergeant Lorna Dennison-Wilkins PhD - on the factors influencing body recovery such as buoyancy and temperature.

Body recovery from water study | College of Policing

Long read: Research into body movement patterns in water to aid recovery

www.college.police.uk

 

[citygirl]

Forensic expert claims Nicola Bulley did not fall into river

A world-renowned forensics expert, who is a diver for the police and has worked on hundreds of cases across the southeast, believes it is unlikely the river bank is the correct answer.

www-dailymail-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org

“The sonar used by the police is pretty low-tech. It's very unlikely they would be able to find a body with it,' he said. 'The divers the police are using are very experienced and professional, but searching that way is a very slow process.

<modsnip>

Now , I can't help but wonder? Is it wise to start at the beginning where they assume she fell in, or 15 KMs away working their way back?

 

[Lilbitcurious]

I found this
Screenshot

Couldn’t upload- Google search Superdry long length gillet

 

[kittythehare]

and he's now saying that this is a very long stretch of river for them to do but this morning - when he wasn't involved and he was complaining - it was easy peasy and could have been done in a day

hours later and now he says it's a ' huge task for the police'

https://twitter.com/x/status/1622137717499772930

prior to that Faulding said the investigation was ' a mess'
Now he says he's not been criticising the police.

Those radars are great but they don't penetrate mud and the river has been moving so there will be mud in the deepest places..

I'm finding it disheartening to tell the truth..
I'll be the first to criticise LE but not in this case, no way.
Their work is exemplary and I have experience in searching for missing people, SAR, ground searches.

Unless a drowning is actually witnessed there is no evidence unless a vehicle is left close to the drowning spot and even then it does not prove a drowning, just increases the likelihood of it.

It is long tedious work , repetitive and exhausting because you have to search each place every time the tide turns.
And every time you search it is different because the tide changes the landscape.
Nicola is wearing black clothes which make the job far more difficult on land or water.
Without a colour you go blind.. really difficult.

 

[Lilbitcurious]

Not seeing the screenshot I'm afraid. Can you post again please? Would like to see it.

Google Superdry Ling length gilets

 

[Lilbitcurious]

Google Superdry Ling length gilets

*Long

 

[Casseus]

Until you are right up at something. A body will literally come out at you from the dark.

Hats off to any underwater search team. Must be one of the scariest/bravest jobs in the world. Even thinking about it gives me goosebumps. Where do they get the nerves of steel from??

 

[Deleted member 320164]

Noted that if someone were to fall into even shallow cold water they would need to find a way to exit within minutes before being affected by cold water shock. Cold Water Shock – the Facts

I think you need to read that more carefully.

 

[martinwatts5]

IMO the dog harness is the key item. The phone being on the bench makes sense. You may put it there whilst sitting or leave it there to attend to something else. But why put the harness on the floor and not on the bench if you were putting it down?

 

[ayrshireguy]

Hats off to any underwater search team. Must be one of the scariest/bravest jobs in the world. Even thinking about it gives me goosebumps. Where do they get the nerves of steel from??

Yep. It's not like finding a body up a mountain, this is a very up lonely, up close and personal job with bodies that could have been in the water for a while. Not for the faint-hearted.

 

[GTB72]

Couldn’t upload- Google search Superdry long length gillet

Well spotted. That I think would just be about ankle length. I stand corrected.

 

[kittythehare]

Google Superdry Ling length gilets

She wasn't wearing Superdry?

 

[Allabouttrial]

Think it's clear from her Facebook and the police description exactly what she was wearing. The first outfit on the inner layer - same coat, black Jeans and ankle length green wellies. This gilet over it - clearly black not blue as the CCTV image seems to show.

That Gilet is not the same one as shown in the CCTV. Look at the back. The Gilet in your FB pic. would have the padded seams going around the back horizontally.

Nicola Bulley: Friend shares images of missing mum on day she vanished

Doorbell footage of Nicola Bulley outside her home on the day she disappeared is shared with the BBC.

www.bbc.co.uk