Missing woman’s friends demand an end to ‘vile’ lies
CCTV image of mother of two leaving home shows ‘why partner has never been a suspect’
THE last known images of Nicola Bulley taken on the day she vanished were released by her family last night, as the police faced questions over their handling of the investigation.
The pictures taken by the family home’s doorbell camera show Ms Bulley, 45, wearing a long, padded coat with her hair tied in a ponytail, loading her dog, Willow, into the boot of her car before taking her two children to school at around 8.30am on Jan 27.
She vanished about an hour later while walking the spaniel at the River Wyre in Lancashire. Friends of the couple have pleaded with armchair detectives to stop levelling “disgusting accusations” at Ms Bulley’s partner, Paul Ansell, and said the camera showed “why Paul has never been a suspect”.
It is understood that Mr Ansell was at home in Inskip, four miles away, when Ms Bulley vanished and would have been caught on camera had he left. Lancashire Police last night buckled under pressure from Mr Ansell and brought in a specialist dive team. They had declined the offer of free help from Specialist Group International (SGI), which claims to operate the best sonar technology in the world. Its team will start searching this morning.
Peter Faulding, SGI’S founder, said: “If a body is in there we will see it.” He added that he hoped to “speed this up and provide some closure to the family”.
Lancashire Police has been using divers and a boat with underwater cameras and sonar to trawl the river. Detectives are working on the “main hypothesis” that she fell into the water.
It said: “SGI will deploy under the direction of Lancashire Police and will join an already large, multi-agency search operation involving a wide variety of search assets and resources. Their capability will give extra search coverage along what is an extremely challenging environment to search.”
It came as friends of Ms Bulley pleaded with social media bullies to stop spreading “vile theories” online and levelling “disgusting accusations” at her partner.
In a post on Facebook, a close friend of the couple said Mr Ansell, was suffering “hurt and pain” while “completely focusing” on looking after their two young children.
The friend, Tilly Ann, said she had permission from Ms Bulley’s family to correct errors being aired in public. For example the existence of CCTV at the couple’s home explained “why Paul has never been a suspect”.
Tilly Ann also gave details of the case – some of which have puzzled armchair detectives who have tried to understand how Ms Bulley, a mother of two, vanished while walking her dog along the river side.
Police have said their “main hypothesis” remains that Ms Bulley fell into the water, and yesterday a police boat equipped with underwater cameras continued to trawl the river at St Michael’s on Wyre.
Last night, police buckled under pressure from Mr Ansell to agree to the deployment of the private underwater SGI search team, based in Surrey.
Peter Faulding, a former paratrooper who runs SGI, said he had been contacted by Mr Ansell after offering to help on television.
Police had refused the offer from Mr Faulding’s company but relented after he posted on Facebook: “Unfortunately, Lancashire Police have responded, via the family, declining my offer, saying they will continue with their own river searches using their current resources.”
He complained that the decision was adding “further delay when all hands on deck are required to help Nicola’s grieving family, either to find her or definitively rule the river out”.
Mr Faulding said yesterday he was surprised Ms Bulley had not been found if she was in the water.
He said in a television interview: “Normally when a person drowns, if they are left a number of days they don’t move very far. This is not a fast tidal river. So I would have expected her to have been found by the police divers by now.
“Apparently sonar has been used, but that’s only as good as the equipment or the operator using them. We could have scanned this river with our equipment within a day and seen if there was a body there. It’s as clear as that. None of this rings right to me. My belief is she’s not in the river at all.”
He said he was” surprised” the bench where Ms Bulley’s mobile phone was discovered had not been sealed off as it was a crime scene, adding: “People have been walking past the bench. There’s no police tape up. This would normally be sealed off as a crime scene so potentially crime scene investigators can go in and see if there are any microfibres, evidence, slip marks down the bank etc. I don’t believe that happened here.”
In her Facebook post, Tilly Ann also said Ms Bulley’s spaniel had been found at the scene dry and that the dog’s harness was found on the ground close to the bench from where Ms Bulley had logged into a Microsoft Teams call at 9.01am and which had ended at 9.30am.
She said the harness was usually removed at the gate where the riverside walk began and Willow had returned to the scene. She did not explain why, but it is likely police took the dog back to see if it could pick up the scent of its owner. She also said Ms Bulley, who dropped her children off at school before going to the river, used her mobile on loudspeaker setting.
On Facebook Tilly Ann wrote: “I can’t sit back anymore and not act with regards the hurt and distress that is being caused by some very inappropriate comments.”
She said a television interview given by Mr Ansell about his partner’s disappearance had been “devastating” to watch, adding: “We can see the hurt and pain and can see how much he’s struggling to hold back the tears.
“He is completely focusing on his girls because if he even stops to think about anything else, he will lose it and he doesn’t want to worry his girls even more. He was terrified doing a live interview, as I know I would be.”
She went on: “Paul and Nikki [Ms Bulley] mostly work from home which is why he was at home that day. They have CCTV and that is a reason why Paul has never been a suspect. Family and friends need these accusations to stop immediately.
“The fact that I’ve had to write this is disgusting to be honest.”
She said the couple walked the route “regularly” and that “the dog never has her harness on for a chunk of that walk, it’s removed at the gate of the top field and then put back on at the gate when they leave”.
She said the couple “very rarely” take a ball out for the dog, the implication being that Ms Bulley would not have fallen into the river attempting to retrieve a ball. Tilly Ann added: “Nikki is an incredibly strong swimmer.”
Leanne Grace, a friend of the couple who lives in Australia, said: “It’s devastating to learn of some of the accusations being made. The focus should be on finding Nikki and bringing her home. It’s awful seeing the comments ... I know Paul well and all I could see was the pain and worry etched in his face. He is trying to stay focused on the girls.
“The family are doing so much work behind the scenes to try to find some answers.”
Another of Ms Bulley’s friends said some online posts had been deeply upsetting. Heather Gibbons, 33, told BBC North West Tonight: “The speculation is massive. I mean it’s human nature – everyone’s going to have their thoughts, their theories, everyone will be speculating.
“But to see some of the vile speculation online – some of the theories that are incredibly, incredibly hurtful – I don’t think people realise that the family are sitting at home and see that.” She said she was concerned that “as [Ms Bulley’s daughters] get older, they will be able to look back and they will be able to see everything that was said”.
Lancashire Police said on Saturday night that a “key witness” had come forward and added: “The speculation and abuse on social media aimed at some people who are merely assisting our inquiry is totally unacceptable.
“We would urge people to remember that we are investigating the disappearance of Nicola, and the priority is Nicola and her family. We want to find her and provide answers to her family.”
Detectives said they had found “no evidence of a slip or fall” near the bench and insisted there was “no evidence” of anything suspicious. Officers said it would be possible to fall into the river from the bank without leaving a trace.
A St Michael on Wyre resident said he had told police he saw a “tatty red van” in the area on the day Ms Bulley went missing.
At a church service yesterday, Ms Bulley’s friends spoke of how they had rallied around the couple to offer support for the children.
‘He is completely focusing on his girls because if he even stops to think about anything else, he will lose it’