Police debunk eight ‘persistent myths’ about Nicola Bulley’s disappearance

Nicola Bulley’s disappearance while walking her dog in a sleepy Lancashire village has captured the nation’s attention on rare scale, with social media sleuths pouring over every known detail of the case.

The 45-year-old vanished on the morning of 27 January, as she took her springer spaniel along the familiar river path at St Michael’s on Wyre, shortly after dropping her daughters – aged six and nine – off at school nearby.

The discovery of her mobile phone on a riverside bench, still connected to a work call, and her dog Willow running loose nearby – its harness left lying on the ground – has sparked an “unprecedented” police investigation.

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But it has also become the subject of intense scrutiny and conjecture. In a bid to confront this “distracting” speculation – and criticism of their investigation – Lancashire Police called a press conference to update the public on “exactly we have done over the last 19 days”.

Reasserting that – despite their “exhaustive” enquiries – there is still no evidence to suggest any criminal involvement, the officer leading the search, Detective Superintendent Becky Smith, also tackled a number of “persistent myths” surrounding the case.

A 55-year-old unnamed witness previously told The Times they saw a “tatty red van in Hall Lane outside a barn” on the day of Ms Bulley’s disappearance, describing it as “the sort of van you can live in”.

“I didn’t think anything at the time, but when I saw Nicola had gone missing, I called 101 and spoke to an operator,” they said.

However, a tree surgeon who rents out the barn where the van was spotted to store wood told The Sun he does not own a red van and nor does anyone he knows, and there is no reason for anyone to be in the barn unless they are up to no good.

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DSI Smith said: “It has been reported that [the red van] was in the area on the morning of the 27th, like many other hundreds of cars that morning. We’re really grateful for the witness who has told us about that and we are continuing to make enquiries to track down that specific van.

“But from my perspective, being in possession of all the facts and information of this case, I do not believe that to be suspicious.

“But we are continuing to investigate that so that we can identify whoever was in the area at that time to make sure that they can’t give us any further information that will assist the investigation.”

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An empty property close to where the spot where Ms Bulley went missing along the River Wyre has been the subject of intense discussion, and has even allegedly drawn vigilantes to trespass on the property.

But DSI Smith said that the house “has been searched three times, with the permission of the owner, and Nicola is not in there”.

The 45-year-old is known to have logged onto a work call on Microsoft Teams at 9:01am, and her phone was still connected to the videoconferencing platform when it was discovered at 9.35am, five minutes after the meeting ended.

“There has been lots of speculation about this,” said the senior investigating officer. “This was a perfectly normal call for Nicola to have, it was work related, she would never have had the microphone or camera on because it was more of an informative session. She didn’t need to sign into it.

“So I know there have been enquiries as to whether anybody else on the Teams call would have been able to hear or provide us with any information. I can assure you from the outset that was investigated thoroughly and that was not the case.”

It was also normal for Ms Bulley to be holding the phone “out in front of her [while] listening to that call”, rather than in her pocket, said DSI Smith.

“We have of course, like you would in any major inquiry, done an exhaustive amount of work with that phone,” she said. “We have digital media experts doing everything we can, and that has enabled us to help us with her movements in the field, corroborated by the witness accounts.”

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Ms Bulley’s dog’s harness was discovered lying on the ground in between the bench where her phone was found and the River Wyre.

“It was really normal for Willow not to have her harness on,” said DSI Smith.

“They never kept the harness on when they were in that field. The harness would be taken off Willow when they entered the field and would only be put back on when they were ready to leave the field.”

There have been “mention of a number of fisherman seen that morning who were described as suspicious”, said DSI Smith.

But she added: “I myself don't find it suspicious that fisherman would be in the area of a river that morning or carrying fishing roads.

“There was some suggestion one of these men might have been covering their face. We have made numerous appeals for these fishermen to come forward, we have made contact with local angling clubs and we have also ascertained the time of the witness passing down that road and checked the CCTV at the Grapes pub, which covers that end of Garstang Road, and we can’t see any of those fishermen at that time, on that day”.

While police are continuing to try and seek the fishermen, DSI Smith urged that “they are not necessarily suspicious, to me, but I am really keen to trace them to make sure that there’s no further information they can give us”.

In the early days of the investigation, some amateur sleuths had suggested that police were missing a trick by not seeking to analyse data from Ms Bulley’s Fitbit.

But police said that Ms Bulley's Fitbit device did not provide further information because it had not been synced for several days.

“I know this has been of interest,” said DSI Smith. “Unfortunately, despite many technicians and specialists looking at this, there is no further information that we can gain from that because it hadn’t been synced for a number of days.”

It was reported that Lancashire Police had been handed over a “stained glove” from the field where the dog walker was last seen.

A blue ski glove was taken away by the authorities in an evidence bag, The Sun reported, at a time when detectives centred their search in River Wyre where it was believed the mother of two might have fallen.

“In terms of the glove that has been recovered, you’ll no doubt be aware that TikTokers have been playing their own private detectives and have been in the area,” said DSI Smith.

“A glove has been recovered that is not believed to be relevant to the investigation. It is not Nicola‘s but we have got that in our possession.”

“There has been some mention of CCTV specifically at the caravan site that hasn’t been working and that that’s suspicious itself,” said DSI Smith.“That’s not the case. We have been helped and assisted beyond all belief by the caravan owners in this.

“The whole community wants to find Nicola and give the family the answers they deserve.”

Speaking to The Independent, a staff member at the caravan site previously dispelled claims that a CCTV camera of theirs which “would have seen everything” was broken.

The staff member, who revealed police had advised them to lock their doors to protect against viligante detectives, said that while their cameras have no view of the river, police had spent hours combing through CCTV footage of the lane nearby, and had seen nothing of interest.