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Thursday, 2 February 2023

Missing Nicola Bulley's last 45 minutes before she vanished without trace: Police reveal new details about her movements before her phone was found by river - as photos from Strava account show how she ran route regularly with her dog

 Police have released a detailed timeline of the 45 minutes leading up to Nicola Bulley's disappearance on Friday morning.

The mother-of-two first started walking along the path lining the River Wyre, in Lancashire, at 8.43am, having already dropped her daughters, aged six and nine, off at school.

Her Strava account reveals it's a route she took often and knew well, sharing pictures of her Spaniel Willow frolicking in the field and in the river. On average, it'd take her about 30 minutes to complete the loop and return to her car, which her family say she parked in the same spot about '1000 times over' through the years.

By 8.50am on Friday morning, she'd bumped into another dog walker on the path.

The pair were known to one another and had a brief interaction as their dogs played. The witness left the field a short time later via the river path.

At 8.53am, Ms Bulley emailed her boss and by 9.01am she was logged into her Teams call. Her camera was off and audio muted as she listened in.

By approximately 9.10am, a second witness recognised Ms Bulley in the distance. Police are working to try to narrow down this timeframe.

Then, at 9.30am, the Teams meeting ended. Ms Bulley stayed logged onto the chat room. By 9.35am, her phone and Willow were found deserted on a nearby bench by another dog-walker.

Lancashire Constabulary released a CCTV image of a woman in a red coat walking a white dog, who is believed to have been in St Michael's on Wyre when Ms Bulley disappeared on January 27. In an update, the force said she has been identified.

The dog walker who found the phone earlier said she recognised Willow but couldn't remember where from, and called her daughter who raised the alarm with Ms Bulley's long term partner, Paul Ansell.

Ms Bulley's heartbroken family broke down in tears today as they pleaded for help to trace her, saying: 'People don't just vanish into thin air'....<<<Read More>>>...