Found Deceased UK - Nicola Bulley, 45, last seen walking her dog on footpath by the river, Inskip, Lancashire, 27 Jan 2023

[Batearedfreak]

This quote from the Lancashire Telegraph bothers me. Other reports cited in the thread say that the dog was spotted by a friend & then the police were called, & it was the police (not the dog-spotting friend) who later found the phone & lead/harness on the bench.

There's something amiss with the order of events here. If the friend found the dog by the bench, s/he would presumably also have seen the phone etc., so that's one puzzle.

Also how/why is the school involved? Why would the friend have gone to the school (a good distance away) rather than contacting Mr A or the police? To recognise whose dog it was, s/he must have been a close friend - wouldn't s/he have had Mr A's number? Was s/he expecting to find Nicola at the school?

Something just doesn't add up here.

Maybe the dog also had a collar with a disk. It's the law in the UK that a dog out in public must have an ID disk. I had harnesses for both my dogs but they also had collars with disks on with my name and number on them. Maybe the finder recognised the name, couldn't reach her on the number and decided to take the dog to a mutually known location for collection? This is a horrible matter. Could feasibly happen to anyone walking their dog alone.

 

[emucalfskin]

No I imagine she did really mean to say 'homely'. I would say homely rather than homey. Lancashire lass through and through

Totally agree, butter pies

 

[3point5]

Maybe the dog also had a collar with a disk. It's the law in the UK that a dog out in public must have an ID disk. I had harnesses for both my dogs but they also had collars with disks on with my name and number on them.

We do the same. She always has her collar on, but we also have a harness for long walks.

 

[tor96]

These are my thoughts:

- With huge respect to NB, this would not be nationwide front page news if it was a case of a dog walker slipping and falling into the river. Events like this (tragic accidents), although not a daily occurrence, do happen and are not made as headline news (as they are just not ‘newsworthy’ enough) so there is more to it than just this

- The police know a lot more than we, as Joe Public are aware of. Sometimes they have to keep their cards close to their chests so to not jeopardise the case. They may well have suspicions that foul play has occurred but cannot directly tell this to the public as it would cause alarm and panic and until there is more concrete evidence of a perpetrator, they are understandably not giving the public the whole picture they are piecing together as a force

- FB and lack of posts over the past month or so. Were there relationship issues with her partner? Was she having an affair? Why has her partner said the girls need their mummy and not been more emotive with his feelings (although I know people express their feelings in various ways at times like this) I wonder if they are his children too? They’ve been together 12 years and both girls are younger than 12 so it suggests that they are his but we do not know definitively

- Could she have had a stalker given her posting of the dog walking routes she walked on her FB page

- There is a lot more to this story and I think sadly it is more sinister than we know and likely involves a third party

MOO
-

Omg hopefully no foul play, like I've said familes are busy over Christmas! Don't get time to post pics unfortunately, I hope I'm wrong, she dropped her children off at school, went on a team meeting, mute, no camera, which is what I do, just listen, she has unfortunately slipped on the mud, dropped something maybe, put her phone down, I hope she is safe somewhere,

I think we have to all agree that if she was at the school, the police would have cleared this with many people very early on. Her daughters, other parents, teachers (maybe), school/village cctv. What we aren’t being told is if she took the car, where her car is and if anyone else was with her in car. JMO

BUT (a contradiction to what I prev wrote) what if her daughters walked into school together - a 9 year old and a 6 year old it wouldn’t be that strange. Maybe the 6 year old likes to feel independent meeting friends at the gate and walking to her line. That would mean no1 would have seen NB at the school apart from her daughters of course but then why would they lie.

no this would have not been allowed, I asked last year if my 16 year old daughter could drop off my 6 year old son, as was having a mattress
Delivered last minute, even though my dad was driving them there, he is 80 and can't walk far, they still said no, until she is 17, so doubtful at 9 years old

 

[DazN]

From The Sun article

A friend who runs a local caravan park raised the alarm when they spotted the family’s brown springer spaniel Willow running free.

The pet was near to a bench under a tree, which has a sign warning of deep water nailed to it.

The friend contacted the school and staff called engineer Paul, who dialled 999. Cops arrived at the scene around 10.30am and found Nicola’s mobile phone on the bench with her work call still active, along with Willow’s leash.


So this friend found the dog near the bench, but didn’t find the phone or the leash (which were on the bench) until the police showed up? Am I reading that right?

 

[Edinlass]

Omg hopefully no foul play, like I've said familes are busy over Christmas! Don't get time to post pics unfortunately, I hope I'm wrong, she dropped her children off at school, went on a team meeting, mute, no camera, which is what I do, just listen, she has unfortunately slipped on the mud, dropped something maybe, put her phone down, I hope she is safe somewhere,

no this would have not been allowed, I asked last year if my 16 year old daughter could drop off my 6 year old son, as was having a mattress
Delivered last minute, even though my dad was driving them there, he is 80 and can't walk far, they still said no, until she is 17, so doubtful at 9 years old

Not until 17? I live in Scotland and used to always drop my primary 5 child off at the gate with her friends. Infact I’ve seen 7 year olds walk to school from their house here, not that I would allow that but it happens. No-one checks and certainly not illegal, albeit morally wrong imo.

Pick-up is a different story.

 

[Allabouttrial]

no this would have not been allowed, I asked last year if my 16 year old daughter could drop off my 6 year old son, as was having a mattress
Delivered last minute, even though my dad was driving them there, he is 80 and can't walk far, they still said no, until she is 17, so doubtful at 9 years old

How odd. Picking up I get, but dropping off? Why would they have the authority to say who drops your own child off?!

My high school age daughter used to pick my primary school son up all the time on her way home.

 

[tor96]

There is a sign on the tree where she was sat stating dogs must be kept on leads, I saw I clear picture of it on one of the links online but now I can't find it, only this one with a bit missing off the top of the sign, I have a feeling NB would follow these rules yet the dog was off it's lead & harness, I could understand the dog being off it's lead but not out ofi t's harness, that doesn't make any sense to me,

Past that point, which she wasn't as someone else has said previously

 

[tor96]

How odd. Picking up I get, but dropping off? Why would they have the authority to say who drops your own child off?!

My high school age daughter used to pick my primary school son up all the time on her way home.

Because the gates are locked

 

[LucyRocket]

Does anyone here use a dog harness and would you take it off during a walk or just detach the lead from the harness ? My dog wears a collar, which is left on, when off the lead.

Always unclip the lead from the harness and leave the harness on, ready for easy attachment when she needs to be back on the lead. Even when she’s swimming, the harness is on. The telltale would be whether the harness claps were locked or open. Open it was taken off by the owner, locked the dog slipped loose

 

[Cuko]

If I’m walking in the woods with my dog, I will let her off the lead but never remove her harness. The latter has her contact details tag attached. Don’t know any dog owner who’d remove harness or collar when their dog is running free.

 

[Edinlass]

Always unclip the lead from the harness and leave the harness on, ready for easy attachment when she needs to be back on the lead. Even when she’s swimming, the harness is on. The telltale would be whether the harness claps were locked or open. Open it was taken off by the owner, locked the dog slipped loose

What if the dog was initially tied to the bench by the lead, could it eventually in time get out the harness by backing up on it? I have never owned a dog so I don’t have this answer.

 

[Nikynoo]

I don’t think there was much time between dropping the kids off and joining the conference call. I guess if someone was in a hurry it would explain why the dog wasn’t wearing his harness. It would also mean he could run off on his own to play and not follow anyone.

I would imagine that the dog was wearing the harness either in the car or at the very least in starting the walk.

 

[Sjöberg]

If NB had a breakdown of sorts and wanted to end her life, leaving behind your partner and two daughters is bad enough, but why choose to enter a river in the freezing cold January, knowing that you would also be leaving behind your beloved dog to be alone in the middle of nowhere?

While I don't think she killed herself in that way - suicides don't have to make sense. Especially not to a non-suicidal person.
The ones that have happened around me have mostly not made sense, either. Going to a quick corner store run and never returning, to take a bus and hang yourself in a forest ca 25 miles away. Jumping out of your grandmothers 9th floor window. Eating a poisonous plant in the woods with a friend as a suicide pact. Etc.

no this would have not been allowed, I asked last year if my 16 year old daughter could drop off my 6 year old son, as was having a mattress Delivered last minute, even though my dad was driving them there, he is 80 and can't walk far, they still said no, until she is 17, so doubtful at 9 years old

This is probably true for the UK. Just feels off to me, as in my hood most kids walk to school alone from around age 7 or so. But I do think the kids were dropped off in this case.

 

[LucyRocket]

My interpretation of that would be that dogs had to be on leads beyond that point - so the bench would be the last point at which the dog could run loose. IIRC there are photos of the dog off the lead along that stretch of path on NB’s FB page.

Yes, and every photo, dog still has harness on, which would make the most sense

 

[Nikynoo]

For me, it’s the dog. The dog was found between the bench and the river. So the dog remained in the area where the harness, lead and phone were found.
If NB had walked off or was taken, the dog would have followed. NB must be located nearby.

 

[Taskforce88]

These are my thoughts:

- With huge respect to NB, this would not be nationwide front page news if it was a case of a dog walker slipping and falling into the river. Events like this (tragic accidents), although not a daily occurrence, do happen and are not made as headline news (as they are just not ‘newsworthy’ enough) so there is more to it than just this

- The police know a lot more than we, as Joe Public are aware of. Sometimes they have to keep their cards close to their chests so to not jeopardise the case. They may well have suspicions that foul play has occurred but cannot directly tell this to the public as it would cause alarm and panic and until there is more concrete evidence of a perpetrator, they are understandably not giving the public the whole picture they are piecing together as a force

- FB and lack of posts over the past month or so. Were there relationship issues with her partner? <modsnip - not victim friendly> I wonder if they are his children too? They’ve been together 12 years and both girls are younger than 12 so it suggests that they are his but we do not know definitively

- Could she have had a stalker given her posting of the dog walking routes she walked on her FB page

- There is a lot more to this story and I think sadly it is more sinister than we know and likely involves a third party

MOO
-

That's my take too. There must be a feeling that this is much bigger.

 

[Edinlass]

For me, it’s the dog. The dog was found between the bench and the river. So the dog remained in the area where the harness, lead and phone were found.
If NB had walked off or was taken, the dog would have followed. NB must be located nearby.

Unless the dog was initially tied by the lead to the bench and got out the harness, maybe this is impossible as I said not a dog owner. Grew up with a Doberman so certainly have no knowledge of harnesses

 

[Nikynoo]

What if the dog was initially tied to the bench by the lead, could it eventually in time get out the harness by backing up on it? I have never owned a dog so I don’t have this answer.

It’s not impossible

 

[emucalfskin]

The river https://assets.publishing.service.g...3706/Wyre_Catchment_Flood_Management_Plan.pdf

Flooded villagers' desperate pleas fall on deaf ears with water bosses

St Michael’s on Wyre has been dogged by awful flooding for more than half a decade

www.lancs.live