Friend of missing mum Nicola Bulley reveals ’11 facts about her disappearance’
A close friend of a missing mum-of-two has appealed to cruel trolls on social media to stop causing ‘hurt and distress’ to the family.
Nicola Bulley was reported missing on Friday, January 27, after her dog was found wandering along the river Wyre, near her home in St Michaels, Lancashire.
Police believe the 45-year-old may have fallen into the water while trying to catch her dog’s ball, but drowned.
This main hypothesis has been questioned by her friends who insist Nicola was an ‘incredibly strong swimmer’.
Her sister, Louise Cunningham, has urged the public to keep an ‘open mind’ and continue the search.
Now, a friend, Tilly Ann, has described the terrible toll her disappearance has had on her loved ones.
In a post on Facebook, she addressed ‘some very inappropriate comments’ made by people speculating about family members’ involvement in the case.
She also listed 11 points she believes the public should be aware of:
- Paul and Nikki both mostly work from home which is why he was at home that day. They have CCTV and there 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
- They both do this walk regularly and Paul is very well known in the community and very well recognised
- 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
- They very rarely take the ball out for walks with willow now because she is very very protective over the ball and haven’t done for a while
- Nikki quite often would put her phone on loud speaker when talking
- The dog was found very close to the bench and the harness. The harness was found on the floor not on the bench
- Nikki is an incredibly strong swimmer
- Nikki drove to the school and then left her car there and walked to the river
- The dog was dry when found
- The dog has since been back
- There’s CCTV at the back of the caravan park. The only camera that isn’t working is the one that would have seen everything
Describing the impact on Nicola’s partner Paul, she wrote: ‘We can see the hurt and pain and can see how much he’s struggling to hold back the tears.
‘He’s 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 than they already are.’
Tilly said she been ‘shocked and appalled’ at some of the coverage of her friend’s disappearance.
‘What her family need right now is as much positivity as possible,’ she added.
Police have ruled out Nicola being kidnapped after extensive searches of CCTV show no one leaving or exiting the gates by the river.
The inquiry team have also pulled security footage, dashcams and ring doorbells, and have spoken to three key witnesses.
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