Nicola Bulley LIVE updates: Police confirm body found in River Wyre is missing mum
The body was found on Sunday morning in the River Wyre in Lancashire, around a mile from where the 45-year-old mortgage adviser was last seen.
Follow our live blog for the latest information.
Nicola Bulley: Latest updates after body found in River Wyre
Key Events
- Body found in river is missing mother Nicola Bulley, confirm police
- Nicola’s family issue statement: “We will never be able to comprehend what Nikki had gone through in her last moments”
Paying further tribute to Nicola at the end of their statement, the family added: “To those who genuinely helped and supported us, privately, we thank you.
“The community support in St Michael’s, friends, neighbours and strangers has been nothing short of comforting and heart-warming. Friends you know who you are. Thank you.
“Our hearts truly break for others who have missing loved ones. Keep that hope alive.
“Finally, Nikki, you are no longer a missing person, you have been found, we can let you rest now.
“We love you, always have and always will, we’ll take it from here.”
Nicola Bulley found: family statement in full
Here is the statement from NicolaBulley’s family, as read by Lancashire Police Head of Crime Detective Chief Superintendent Pauline Stables:
“Our family liaison officers have had to confirm our worst fears today.
“We will never be able to comprehend what Nikki had gone through in her last moments and that will never leave us.
“We will never forget Nikki, how could we, she was the centre of our world, she was the one who made our lives so special and nothing will cast a shadow over that.
“Our girls will get the support they need from the people who love them the most.
“And it saddens us to think that one day we will have to explain to them that the press and members of the public accused their dad of wrongdoing, misquoted and vilified friends and family.
“This is absolutely appalling, they have to be held accountable this cannot happen to another family.”
“We tried last night to take in what we had been told in the day, only to have Sky News and ITV making contact with us directly when we expressly asked for privacy. They again have taken it upon themselves to run stories about us to sell papers and increase their own profits. It is shameful they have acted in this way. Leave us alone now.
“Do the press and other media channels and so called professionals not know when to stop? These are our lives and our children’s lives.
“To those who genuinely helped and supported us, privately, we thank you. The community support in St Michael’s, friends, neighbours and strangers has been nothing short of comforting and heart-warming. Friends you know who you are. Thank you.
“Our hearts truly break for others who have missing loved ones. Keep that hope alive.
“Finally, Nikki, you are no longer a missing person, you have been found, we can let you rest now.
“We love you, always have and always will, we will take it from here.”
Body found in river is missing mum Nicola Bulley
A body found in the River Wyre has been identified as missing mum-of-two Nicola Bulley, police have said.
Speaking at a press briefing at police headquarters on Monday, Assistant Chief Constable Peter Lawson confirmed the body had been identified Nicola.
He said: “Sadly, we are now able to confirm that yesterday we recovered Nicola Bulley from the River Wyre.
“Nicola’s family have been informed and are of course devastated. Our thoughts are with them at this time as well as with all her loved ones and the wider community.
“We recognise the huge impact that Nicola’s disappearance has had on her family and friends, but also on the people of St Michael’s.
“We would like to thank all of those who have helped during what has been a hugely complex and highly emotional investigation.
“Today’s development is not the outcome any of us would have wanted, but we hope that it can at least start to provide some answers for Nicola’s loved ones, who remain foremost in our thoughts.”
Lancashire Police to hold press conference on Nicola Bulley
Lancashire Police will hold a press conference at its HQ in Hutton at 5.30pm.
The briefing will be led by Assistant Chief Constable Peter Lawson.
Updates to follow...
Lancashire Post Editor Nicola Adam on GBNews
Lancashire Post editor Nicola Adam spoke to GBNews today following the discovery of a body in the River Wyre, a mile from Nicola’s last known location.
Sir Keir Starmer - “Let the investigation go its full length now, let’s have that review and then we can see whether the judgements were the right judegments."
Sir Keir Starmer has urged people to await the full review of the police’s handling of Nicola’s disappearance before coming to a judgment.
Speaking to broadcasters in Grays, Essex, the Labour leader said: “First and foremost I think all of us will be thinking about the family and the circumstances unfolding and the agony that they’re going through.
“Obviously we want the investigation to be now completed so we can get to the absolute bottom of this, there will be a review so if there have been mistakes along the way, the review will get to the bottom of those mistakes.
“Let the investigation go its full length now, let’s have that review and then we can see whether the judgments were the right judgments.
“In my experience when I was director of public prosecutions very often where there is a review, some judgments which at the time didn’t seem particularly appropriate, are capable of being explained.”
Home Secretary not “wholly satisfied” with Lancashire Police response to questions about ‘alcohol and menopause’ disclosures
The Home Secretary Suella Braverman has said she was not “wholly satisfied” with the response of Lancashire Police’s chief constable to questions about their decision to release elements of Nicola’s into the public domain.
Asked if there would be an external review into the police’s handling of the case, Suella Braverman said: “I want to put on record my deepest thoughts and sympathies for the family of Nicola it must be a horrendous experience that they are going through right now.
“We need to let the police carry out and conclude their investigation. I did have concerns earlier in the week about some of the elements relating to the release of personal information of Nicola into the public domain.
“I raised those concerns with the chief constable – I wasn’t wholly satisfied, I have to say, with some of the responses I got but it is a matter for the police themselves.
“There are some investigations ongoing, looking into how the investigation has been handled and we must let that carry out its own process.
“We must just let the investigation conclude, and then we will see what the investigations and inquiries come back with.”
No police presence at section of river where body discovered
There is no police presence this afternoon at the scene where the body was discovered next to Rawcliffe Road this afternoon.
This morning, police officers and community support officers were seen on patrol around the village of St Michael’s on Wyre.
Daffodils and yellow ribbons were still on the bridge through the village, along with a red rose and a bunch of red carnations.
Family in ‘agony’ after body discovered in river
Nicola’s partner, Paul Ansell, told Sky News of his “agony” after the discovery was made in the River Wyre, close to Rawcliffe Road in St Michael’s on Wyre at around 11.35am on Sunday.
Police working to ID body found in River Wyre
Lancashire Police say procedures to formally identify the body are on-going and detectives are currently treating the death as ‘unexplained’.
They are unable to say for certain at this stage whether it is Nicola, but added that her partner Paul and her family have been informed.
“Our thoughts are with them at this most difficult of times. We ask that their privacy is respected,” said the force.
Search expert insists Nicola Bulley did not drown in the stretch of river near the bench
Underwater search expert Peter Faulding - who sweeped the River Wyre with sonar in search of a body - said he still does not believe she drowned near the bench where her phone and dog’s harness were found.
He has faced criticism for fuelling speculation on social media and lending credence to conspiracy theorists following his many TV appearances in which he repeatedly raised doubts about the police theory that Nicola entered the river.
He told GB News: “I would like to make it very clear that the police have searched that area with sonar and divers for the last three weeks. We spent four hours searching for Nicola on that strip of the river.
“I categorically confirm that Nicola was not on the river bed, we would have seen her body.
“There’s no way and my whole team and other police have looked at this. The police know that there was no sign of Nicola on the bottom.”
Statement from underwater search expert Peter Faulding
Underwater search expert Peter Faulding has defended his failure to find Nicola Bulley in the River Wyre after making further appearances on TV news today (Monday, February 20).
Speaking to GBNews, the chief executive of Specialist Group International (SGI) re-stated his belief that the mum-of-two did not drown in the stretch of river where her phone was found on January 27.
The 60-year-old was asked to explain how he failed to find any trace of a body during his team’s high-profile three day search of the water earlier this month.
“I categorically confirm that Nicola was not on the river bed, we would have seen her body,” said Mr Faulding.
You can read his full statement below...
Updated expected from police today
Police are expected to provide an update later today after a body was recovered from the River Wyre on Sunday - less than a mile from where Nicola vanished.