A dogwalker who discovered a corpse in the river near where mother-of-two Nicola Bulley went missing told authorities it was a woman.
The corpse was located less than a mile from where Nicola Bulley vanished.
The 45-year-old mortgage adviser’s family has been notified, however Lancashire Police has not yet identified the corpse taken from the Wyre.
Ms Bulley’s corpse was recovered a mile from where she was last seen walking her dog in Saint Michael’s on Wyre after putting her girls, aged six and nine, at school on January 27.
A hiker told police about the woman’s corpse in the river near Rawcliffe Road at 11.35am this morning.
Body. Down there. Woman’s body. “There’s a corpse down there,” a witness said.
The Telegraph said that a witness saw police vehicles “flying” to the scene and a man pointing towards the riverside.
The man was still pointing towards the riverside. Several blue-and-two police vehicles rushed down. They cleaned the road.
Around 11.35am today, police responded to reports of a corpse in the river near Rawcliffe Road.
A statement claimed an underwater search team and specialised cops approached the area, entered the water, and regrettably retrieved a corpse.
We cannot confirm Nicola Bulley’s identity until official identification is completed.
‘Body identification is continuing.
‘The death is unexplained.
We are thinking about Nicola’s family at this terrible time. We want privacy.
According to PA, a man and woman walking their dog found the corpse and alerted authorities.
The corpse was recovered on an ordinary section of the river, just beyond a short bend, a mile or so outside the hamlet, near where a tree had fallen on its side half in and half out of the water, with branches and undergrowth partly buried.
After recovering the corpse, authorities reopened the road three hours later.
A clairvoyant lady told reporters she had “picked up” a section of the river on Saturday night.
Using a drone and aircraft, the police dive team searched.
Ms Bulley’s disappearance has sparked conjecture and police criticism.
Three weeks after Ms Bulley disappeared, the force was criticized for revealing her drinking and peri-menopause issues.
The mother-of-two was classified as a “high-risk” missing person immediately after her boyfriend Paul Ansell reported her absence, ‘based on a number of particular vulnerabilities’, at a news conference on Wednesday.
They subsequently said Ms Bulley, from Inskip, Lancashire, had stopped taking her HRT.
Lancashire Police announced an internal inquiry date after a public outcry and government and shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper involvement.
“Our head of crime, Detective Chief Superintendent Pauline Stables, will evaluate the case,” a spokeswoman stated.
Search specialist Peter Faulding last searched the region on February 6.
He was also questioned yesterday night after saying, “If Nicola was in the river, I would have found her,” at the end of his three-day probe. She’s gone.
Tonight, he stated it would be “absolutely unjust” to imply he gave the family “false hope” if the corpse remains gone.
He added: ‘A corpse may lodge in the reeds behind debris, and you wouldn’t notice it on any sort of sonar, either the police or our sonar.
‘Dog walkers routinely find bodies in the marshes.’
Two boats with specialised police teams combed the shoreline around Morecambe Bay, 20 miles from where Nicola was last seen, last Friday. Police said finding her ‘in the open water becomes more of a chance’.
A third craft, a huge orange lifeboat carrying rescuers, patrolled the harbor.
After searching the river, diving expert Mr. Faulding said he will explore on land to identify where she “might have been buried.”
Peter Faulding remarked, “If someone’s in the woods I will find them.”
Mr. Faulding said it was time to “examine all alternatives” and looked at “potential deposition locations” this week after reports of “strange persons lurking about” the area where she vanished.
After unsuccessful searches, police shifted search teams to the shore, with mounted officers combing coastal walkways in Knott End-on-Sea, Lancashire.
Officers interviewed residents and businesses and requested doorbell and CCTV video to identify the missing mother’s clue.
Lancashire Police were criticized for “wasting” the first 24 hours of the inquiry by not doing door-to-door enquiries and assuming Nicola fell into the river.
Ms Bulley’s boyfriend Paul Ansell told Channel 5 earlier this month that he believes she never went in the river and appealed for police to concentrate on investigating the neighboring area, including door-to-door searches.
On Monday, police went door-to-door at Wyreside Farm Park caravan park, yards from where the mother of two went missing on Jan. 27.
‘We were contacted today at 11.36am to reports of a corpse in the River Wyre, near to Rawcliffe Road,’ a police spokesperson said after recovering a body.
‘An underwater search team and expert cops approached the area, entered the water, and regrettably retrieved a corpse.
We cannot confirm Nicola Bulley’s identity until official identification is completed.
‘Body identification is continuing. Unsolved.
We are thinking about Nicola’s family at this terrible time. We want privacy.
A large cordon surrounds a tent.
Once two hikers found the corpse, police launched a massive search. Detective superintendent Smith arrived minutes before police verified the devastating finding.
Ashen-faced, the male walker told authorities, “There’s certainly a corpse there.”
At 1pm on Sunday, police helicopters and drones hovered above the outcrop of trees and foliage, while police divers went to the Wyre.
Lancashire Police verified a river corpse shortly after.
Once a corpse was recovered in the Wyre, Home Secretary Suella Braverman called Nicola Bulley’s situation “heart-breaking and disturbing.”
‘These are heartbreaking and disturbing events’ she tweeted. I’m thinking about Nicola’s family at this terrible time.
“I drove along Rawcliffe Road for about a mile,” a witness stated before the finding. The embankment had a man, lady, and two police officers.
I pulled off at 11.50am and heard the man talking to police about something in the woods.
Police vehicles flew down the road with blues and twos. A drone-wielding policeman arrived shortly after.
Police helicopter arrived five minutes later. I left 200 yards later when officers ordered me out.
The man was still pointing towards the riverside. Several blue-and-two police vehicles rushed down. They cleaned the road.
Later, the couple was observed vaping on a wall.
The 45-year-old mother of two was last seen walking her dog by the river in St Michael’s-on-Wyre on January 27 after putting her six- and nine-year-old kids off at school.
Three weeks ago, hundreds of police, divers, search professionals, and drones converged on the community.
Sonar specialist Peter Faulding spent days searching the river.
Mr. Faulding publicly said that Ms. Bulley could have “stood up” if she fallen into the small river.
Following Sunday’s finding, Mr. Faulding tweeted, “Our sympathies are with Nicola’s family and friends at this terrible time.”
Despite police believing Ms Bulley is in the river, her boyfriend Paul Ansell, 44, hopes she is alive.
On January 27, Mrs Bulley disappeared after leaving off her six- and nine-year-old kids at Saint Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire, school.
After putting her nine- and six-year-old daughters off at school, she was observed walking Willow, her springer spaniel, down the Wyre around 9.10am.
Her phone, still on a business call, was recovered 20 minutes later on a riverfront bench with her dog loose.
‘If ever there’s an indication of intelligence that is received by the police… then seeing lots of resources deployed in a pretty short length of time is not unusual,’ former Scotland Yard Detective Peter Bleksley told Sky News regarding the latest hunt.
On February 3, Lancashire Police announced its primary theory that Ms. Bulley fell into the River Wyre in a “10-minute window” between 9.10am and 9.20am on the day she vanished.
Experts and Ms. Bulley’s family disagreed.
They convened a second news conference this week to discuss her “vulnerabilities” that made her a “high-risk” missing persons case.
Hours later, they released a shocking statement about Ms. Bulley’s alcoholism, caused by peri-menopausal symptoms and stopping her HRT treatment.
On Friday, Ms. Bulley’s family expressed concern that her choice to cease taking hormone replacement treatment (HRT) may have contributed to her absence.
‘Due to the perimenopause Nikki suffered with significant side effects such as brain fog, restless sleep and was taking HRT to help but this was giving her intense headaches which caused Nikki to stop taking the HRT thinking that may have helped her but only ended up causing this crisis,’ the statement said.
‘Nikki is such a lovely daughter, sister, partner and mother and is missed deeply — we all need you back in our life.
We adore you, Nikki, and your girls want a snuggle. You’re needed.
Overnight, one of the UK’s best investigators was directly assisting Lancashire Police on the investigation.
The NCA, known as Britain’s FBI, informed MailOnline that the anonymous officer had worked on some of the UK’s most high-profile crimes, including murderer and mortuary monster David Fuller and PCSO Julia James’ murder.
Ms. Bulley, 45, disappeared while walking her springer spaniel, Willow, almost three weeks ago. The police have yet to discover her.
A forensic psychologist and dog behaviorist helped Lancashire Police.
That follows Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt and PM Rishi Sunak’s criticism of police for disclosing Ms Bulley’s health information this week.
After the 45-year-disappearance old’s on January 27, police have been criticized.
Lancashire Police are investigating their inquiry, which seems to have stagnated, but they have declined requests from other agencies like the Metropolitan Police to perform the review.
Critics called police’s disclosure of Nicola Bulley’s menopause-related drinking problems “sexist” this week.
Former police officers also questioned why Ms Bulley’s phone and dog were not closed off for forensic testing.
The force has stated that its Head of Crime, Detective Chief Superintendent Pauline Stables, would undertake the internal assessment, although the date has not been released.
Lancashire Police were criticized for conducting their own assessment after Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley volunteered to do so on Friday.
The police also referred Ms Bulley’s January 10 encounter with officers to the IOPC.
When Lancashire Police launched an internal probe, PM Rishi Sunak stated he is ‘pleased police are looking at how that transpired in the investigation’ about the sharing of personal data.
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