Inquest into death of Nicola Bulley begins

The inquest into the death of mother-of-two Nicola Bulley will begin later on Monday. Ms Bulley, 45, vanished after dropping her daughters, aged six and nine, at school, then taking her usual dog walk along the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire, on January 27.

Her phone, still connected to a work Teams call, was found on a bench overlooking the water.

Ms Bulley, a mortgage adviser originally from near Chelmsford but living in Inskip, was immediately deemed a “high risk” missing person, sparking a huge police search operation, with hundreds of local search volunteers and intense media and public interest.

Private underwater search specialists were also called in by her family amid a conspiratorial social media frenzy fuelling waves of sightseers and content creators visiting the scene.

Both police and media faced criticism after her body was found in the river around a mile farther downstream from the bench, on February 19.

Police had urged people not to speculate about the disappearance and maintained from early on there were no suspicious circumstances and that Ms Bulley may have gone into the water due to an “issue” with her springer spaniel dog, Willow.

Ms Bulley’s family and friends said they did not believe the police “theory” and urged people to continue searching.