I do believe that a third party was involved, somebody she was acquainted with or a potential stranger that had been stalking her in recent weeks/months. The reason I see this is because they would have had to know the area very well, know her steps, potentially been watching her Facebook page etc. could have been a client who became overly fascinated/obsessed with her. They (one or more people) could have approached her at the bench and lured her away. The phone would have been left on the bench by Nicola as I doubt the person who took her will have touched anything. Abducters know phones are tracked and they will have seen the phone as she always had the phone out on display. They knew they would have had little time, but she/they will have left through the gate or wherever didn’t have CCTV. Maybe that person knew where there were cameras and assessed the area many times before. If it is an abduction it is highly sinister and will be premeditated/planned/calculated. You might ask why the dog didn’t follow or how come she didn’t scream etc but this person could have been making threats etc towards her or even her family/children. She then went away quietly with this person, not making a scene. Dog may not have followed because maybe Willow hadn’t noticed and was too busy playing etc at the time or maybe the person who potentially abducted her scared off the dog. Spaniels are not known to be dogs that stereotypically “attack” and could have even met this person on dog walks before..who knows?
