Hi new member here - this tragic case brought me to these forums.
I must admit to being confused by how little we know and what we do know is often contradictory, unclear and full of discrepancies.
Where was the phone found - it seems to have been on the bench but there was an early report that said it was on the ground by the tree.
How long was her coat? Police think "It's really important that the public pay heed to those very specific clothing descriptions..." and say it was ankle length when it's pretty clear from the ring footage it was knee length.
We don't know where Willow was found - local businesswoman (the 9:33 timing) says Willow was between the bench and the river. Police on 3rd Feb say "running between the gate to the field and the bench". Which gate? The one right behind the bench or another one? There looks to be a gate into a field near the Wyreside Caravan Park - is that the one they mean?
Where did this woman come from and where did she go afterwards? The fields are very small and if she was walking from the East along the towpath she would have had the bench in her line of sight for sometime before getting there. What did she see? Or was she walking in the opposite direction and came through the gate by the bench?
There was also mention of two people finding the phone and being unable to unlock the screensaver - when was this? Was this misreporting of the the lone businesswoman at 9:33? Or are these the "other people" the witness met up with who recognised Willow. Where was this meeting?
The 8:47am sighting of NB - where was she? Which way was she headed? Which way did the witness head after/during the sighting? Again, the field is quite small and NB would probably have been visible for a while until she went into the upper field.
Did NB head to towards the bench? I have in mind that after taking off Willow's harness, she sat here to send her email, text message her friend (why is this not on the timeline) and log into the Teams meeting before heading off again on her walk.
If she wasn't at the bench doing this, where did she do all that? Whilst walking?
The 9:10 sighting in the upper field - again the field is quite small, where was NB and which way was she walking? Which was was the witness walking? If out of the field towards the caravan park then no more sighting of NB would be possible but if walking into the field then NB would be visible for a little while before heading back to the bench.
Do we know if the police ever investigated the abandoned house? Is it even abandoned? The Mountain Rescue chap says they searched the grounds and the owner just happened to be there and had a quick look inside. Do we know if the police searched it as I'm sure I read somewhere the owner lives there and it's not abandoned - presume the police have ruled this out?
There is a small building, probably water board related, just up from the bench alongside the towpath in the lower field. I've not seen any mention of this anywhere - I presume it was searched?
Whilst it is most likely NB somehow ended up in the river (is it really 15ft deep by the bench? Seems unlikely given the width but I'd expect it to be more than a couple of feet due to the sharp bend) it is odd there is no evidence whatsoever of this.
I think the main issue for me is the lack of information about the witness sightings given the small size of the fields. We should have much more info from these about where NB was and what the witnesses were doing and heading. Looking at Google Earth I would think if you are in the lower field you could see the bench easily and if you were on the towpath heading towards the bench you would have a decent view of both the bench and the slope into the river, maybe even from before entering the lower field.
And, the towpath is raised slightly from the level of the fields so if NB was walking on this she'd have easily have been visible from most parts of either field and by anyone also on the towpath.
fb.watch
