Found Deceased UK - Nicola Bulley Last Seen Walking Dog Near River - St Michaels on Wyre (Lancashire) #10

[PlanningPerson]

Certainly the only other explanation I can think of, but it doesn't quite stack up. It's a bit elaborate for it to be just for personnel to reach the flood-weir.

It's not a bridge for getting equipment across, or livestock, it's a footbridge. At some point it was public, I think.

Also, if you look closely at the street view image, you can see that there appears to be a faded sign with a walking-man with a cross through it - the kind of sign to see where land owners want to indicate no public right of way. It's just beneath the private property sign.

Phil, have a look at the documents associated with this planning permission for a replacement Environment Agency footbridge (Catterall Footbridge). Is this the location you're talking about?

https://publicaccess.wyre.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=RC4XRQSDGVH00

 

[Just-a-random-girl]

I get what you are saying but surely only someone with an ulterior motive would do that?

If she isn't in the water, isn't that what we might be looking at? Obviously she may be in the water and just may never be found. But if she wasn't it seems it would be too late to turn this into a criminal enquiry with any prospect of prosecution, all evidence would be lost. Another Claudia Lawrence.

 

[Mirabel091]

There's a date at the bottom of all maps that shows when google actually took the images.

The date on Google Maps is May 2022, and it's been substantially similar (with a metal gate or barrier at the bridge steps) from the first Streetview image in March 2009 (likely installed before then, but we don't have older imagery to confirm when).

Edit: Yes, I think this is the Environment Agency footbridge referenced in the link PlanningPerson posted in #84.

 

[vchk]

EW was asked if she is happy with the police investigation - not prepared to comment on that

 

[ayrshireguy]

So what are everyone's thoughts on what information the police may have and are holding back that leads them to the river theory with no suspicious circumstances?

 

[cottonweaver]

Tatty red van - second sighting ( paragraph two below for second witness)

It has now emerged that a concerned resident spotted a suspicious-looking vehicle, believed to be a Renault, outside a barn in St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire, on January 27. The witness contacted the police to report a suspicious "red van" parked in the village close to where Bulley went missing.
The 55-year-old witness, who had not been named, told the Times they saw the "tatty red van in Hall Lane outside a barn".
“I didn’t think anything at the time, but when I saw Nicola had gone missing, I called 101 and spoke to an operator. “I contacted the police again on Friday and spoke to a police officer. It could have been a Renault van."
The St Michaels on Wyre resident said the vehicle was the "sort of van you can live in".


A second witness - who happens to work in in search and rescue in the south of the country - revealed to The Sun that they had seen a red van which "looked suspicious" at 9.40am that morning. The man, who requested not to be named, said they had called the police three days after she was revealed missing when they realised that the vehicle "might be significant" in their inquiries.
"They thanked me and asked if I had any dashcam footage and told me they were taking my information seriously", he added. Police searching for Nicola Bulley have been told about new ‘tatty red van’ lead

bit more on that second witness, cause quite a few of the other newspapers had ommitted this line, which, I thought was interesting ( But I'm terrible when I start to see recurring themes, am like a dog with a bone)
“The call really allayed my fears that my sighting wouldn’t be considered properly, they are obviously following up on everything.” Lancashire Police said they had no comment to make regarding the suspicious red van.Nicola cops ARE hunting shabby red van - I saw the vehicle, says key witness

 

[WSA01]

The baffling 10 minute window shrouding Nicola Bulley’s disappearance in mystery

The baffling 10-minute window shrouding Nicola Bulley’s disappearance in mystery

We map out the rough radius where the 45-year-old could have walked and driven in those unaccounted minutes

www.aol.co.uk

This article doesn't make sense as I keep saying because they have the phone, they will know what route the phone took to the bench surely?

I don't understand the fascination with this 10 minute gap?

 

[vchk]

I feel the Police is being given an extremely hard time. I, for one, believe their hypothesis is correct. I just don’t understand why anyone would abduct or attack her on a well known dog walking route. Even if you had planned it having seen her route on strava, for example, why would you choose to do it then and when her dog is there - a dog who could bark and draw attention to you. If it was unplanned and random, it’s likely her body would be dumped quickly in panic. Also, are 45 year old women usually abducted? It seems odd. I will eat my socks if she’s not in the water. IMO

yes agree, there may be some more information that police are not telling the public but I believe they know what they are doing. even if they are looking into another leads they only tell us if they have evidence and is useful and not meant to tell us.

 

[Just-a-random-girl]

I feel the Police is being given an extremely hard time. I, for one, believe their hypothesis is correct. I just don’t understand why anyone would abduct or attack her on a well known dog walking route. Even if you had planned it having seen her route on strava, for example, why would you choose to do it then and when her dog is there - a dog who could bark and draw attention to you. If it was unplanned and random, it’s likely her body would be dumped quickly in panic. Also, are 45 year old women usually abducted? It seems odd. I will eat my socks if she’s not in the water. IMO

Lindsay Birbeck was 47.

Lin Russell was 45 and with a child and a dog.

Many such cases...

 

[Eaglette]

So what are everyone's thoughts on what information the police may have and are holding back that leads them to the river theory with no suspicious circumstances?

Threat to suicide? A note of running away...

I'm coming up with zero clues !!

 

[cottonweaver]

Mail link from today

Emma white told Radio 4 Today 'You expect to be rewarded for when you put hard work in, so we just need something, anything, a piece of information that can lead us down a different inquiry.'


Lancashire Police have dismissed any suggestion Ms Bulley is a victim of crime and say the scale of the missing person inquiry is 'unprecedented', involving 40 detectives and following 500 lines of inquiry.

'Shabby and suspicious red van' seen near Nicola Bulley disappearance

the bolding is mine because that part is incorrect

 

[ginnyw]

I was thinking about this in the middle of the night and I took the river out of the equation, just for experiment: I imagined a young woman going missing from a bench or a field somewhere, with not many people around, and my first thought was either a quick abduction or a voluntary disappearance. With no water nearby, the possible scenarios are reduced and focus can really be concentrated on the other two possible happenings. Also, my own experience of being grabbed by a man who tried to assault me, took place in daylight in a field right by a river! The river was purely backdrop. Just happened to be there. So for me, there is so much muddying of waters (excuse pun) regarding the river. The line that keeps coming into my head is this: the river - culprit or decoy? MOO.

 

[Dowls90]

So what are everyone's thoughts on what information the police may have and are holding back that leads them to the river theory with no suspicious circumstances?

I personally don't believe they have any other than what is out in the public already.

 

[Msa]

Hi everyone, long time lurker, first time posting as I don't think I ever had anything helpful to say to add to any cases but in this case I thought I'd use my experience to shed some light on how bodies can travel through bodies of water/rivers/oceans. Sorry for bad English, not my first language.

My cousin jumped from the 25 de Abril bridge in Lisbon back in 2020. We knew she was dead because no one can survive that height. There were searches on the Tejo River for a few days in hopes to find the body which didn't happen. Eventually the body was found in August on the south coast of Portugal in Algarve. That's over 150miles and almost 3 months after she jumped. And from what we were told we were somehow lucky the body was found because at that point we didn't think we'd be able to recover it.

Due to the lack of evidence on this case my opinion is that she didn't fall in the water. But if she did it might be the case that she's never found or to take a good while before she is.

 

[karakuchi]

Tatty red van - second sighting ( paragraph two below for second witness)

It has now emerged that a concerned resident spotted a suspicious-looking vehicle, believed to be a Renault, outside a barn in St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire, on January 27. The witness contacted the police to report a suspicious "red van" parked in the village close to where Bulley went missing.
The 55-year-old witness, who had not been named, told the Times they saw the "tatty red van in Hall Lane outside a barn".
“I didn’t think anything at the time, but when I saw Nicola had gone missing, I called 101 and spoke to an operator. “I contacted the police again on Friday and spoke to a police officer. It could have been a Renault van."
The St Michaels on Wyre resident said the vehicle was the "sort of van you can live in".


A second witness - who happens to work in in search and rescue in the south of the country - revealed to The Sun that they had seen a red van which "looked suspicious" at 9.40am that morning. The man, who requested not to be named, said they had called the police three days after she was revealed missing when they realised that the vehicle "might be significant" in their inquiries.
"They thanked me and asked if I had any dashcam footage and told me they were taking my information seriously", he added. Police searching for Nicola Bulley have been told about new ‘tatty red van’ lead

bit more on that second witness, cause quite a few of the other newspapers had ommitted this line, which, I thought was interesting ( But I'm terrible when I start to see recurring themes, am like a dog with a bone)


“The call really allayed my fears that my sighting wouldn’t be considered properly, they are obviously following up on everything.” Lancashire Police said they had no comment to make regarding the suspicious red van.Nicola cops ARE hunting shabby red van - I saw the vehicle, says key witness

Very interesting that the Lanc Police said no comment re: the van.
Every other suggestion has been shot down immediately.
Suggests that they are still looking into it IMO

 

[ginnyw]

Threat to suicide? A note of running away...

I'm coming up with zero clues !!

Depression? Anxiety? I don't think it's likely as NB seemed upbeat from what we have been told. But even so, it could be so and we wouldn't know. JMO.

 

[infinit]

Peter Faulding and his team are used by Police forces in southern England as their official marine search and dive team.

I agree with many that his TV interviews were not helpful in some ways but he is not some random guy with a boat.

Who is Peter Faulding? Diving expert called in to help with Nicola Bulley

Peter Faulding, who has worked on cases involving serial killers, has joined the hunt for missing toddler Xielo Maruziva

www.independent.co.uk

I am not in anyway doubting his capabilities or that of his team in underwater searches. They clearly are great. I think it's quite clear she isn't in the area around the bench anymore based on both them and the North West team going in there. But he has come out with some things that are plain factually wrong. There is video evidence of a diver around the bench area submerged up to their head so there is clearly differences in depth around there. The log doesn't prove anything, if it was that simple it would be a widely adopted technique. Why are the North West team still searching if it's so obvious that she couldn't possibly be in there? Is someone ordering them to dive against their better judgement?

I'm not saying she is definitely in the water or there aren't other possibilities at play.

JMO.

 

[cottonweaver]

Very interesting that the Lanc Police said no comment re: the van.
Every other suggestion has been shot down immediately.
Suggests that they are still looking into it IMO

IDK. I thought LP only answered questions when at the press conferences or when being interviewed, but can you think of any that they've shot down immediately? I could have missed them - haven't been following this case since its outset

if anybody else wants to chip in, might have better memories than me.

 

[Just-a-random-girl]

I was thinking about this in the middle of the night and I took the river out of the equation, just for experiment: I imagined a young woman going missing from a bench or a field somewhere, with not many people around, and my first thought was either a quick abduction or a voluntary disappearance. With no water nearby, the possible scenarios are reduced and focus can really be concentrated on the other two possible happenings. Also, my own experience of being grabbed by a man who tried to assault me, took place in daylight in a field right by a river! The river was purely backdrop. Just happened to be there. So for me, there is so much muddying of waters (excuse pun) regarding the river. The line that keeps coming into my head is this: the river - culprit or decoy? MOO.

Libby Squire also springs to mind. If she had not been seen getting into the perp's car (almost never happened was only *just* caught on CCTV and the car, because of that, had not then been followed by ANPR and public cameras to the riverbank) it would have been a different story.

If she had just washed up in the Humber weeks later, without the CCTV or DNA evidence (miraculous the abduction was caught on CCTV and the DNA evidence survived all those weeks in water), it would have been assumed she wandered to the river drunk and fell in or went in of her own accord. And we'd have a dangerous murderer still walking the streets.

 

[Awaywego]

Threat to suicide? A note of running away...

I'm coming up with zero clues !!

So many options...all of them really sad.
MH history/diagnosis
Medical history -history of faints, seizuresz medication that might have made her more vulnerable to an accident near a river etc.
Some recent bad news/arguments/conflict. Eg I notice that they're talked about the last text she sent but not what/if any she received that morning.
That early on there was a reported sighting of 'something' in the water.