The death of Nicola Bulley has officially been ruled a "tragic accident" after she downed following a fall into cold water.
Senior coroner for Lancashire Dr James Adeley stated the 45-year-old's death as accidental, after an inquest lasting two days, The Mirror reports.
Her husband messaged her to ask "have you got lost?" on the morning she disappeared, the court heard during the proceedings.
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Dr Adeley stated that it was likely Nicola entered the water at 9.22am when her Fitbit recorded a significant spike in her heart rate.
He stressed that "there is an absence of any evidence" that Nicola tried to take her own life, after her GP told proceedings she was showing no signs of being suicidal prior to her disappearance.
Other than a few throwaway comments over Christmas, there is no indication Nicola wanted to kill herself.
Dr Adeley said: "The only remaining conclusion is accidental death and this is what is recorded."
Shortly after brining her daughters, aged six and nine, to school, Nicola Bulley disappeared after taking her usual dog walk along the River Wyre in Lancashire on January 27.
Her phone, still logged on to a work Teams call, was discovered on a bench overlooking the water.
Her case drew international attention ended in heartbreak after her body was found in the River Wyre around a mile from the bench, on February 19.
Coroner's statement in full
Dr James Adeley, senior coroner for Lancashire has ruled Nicola Bulley's death was an accident.
Here is his statement in full:
"Excluding a couple of comments over the Christmas period when she was acting out of character and were treated as throw away comments, there was no indication of any intention to take her own life.
“Her behaviour in the week before hear death was back to normal, she had restarted her HRT therapy, stopped drinking some time before, was making plans for play dates and spa days with several people, was becoming increasingly successful at her new career as a mortgage broker and behaved entirely normally during her parents visit of the night before and with Paul Ansell on the morning of her death.
“The circumstances found after her death would also be extremely unusual for suicide where Nikki left Willow, a dog to who she was devoted and was described as a third child, alone on the river bank."
COLD WATER SHOCK
Nikki would also had to have had sufficient knowledge of cold water shock to realise as to how rapidly a death may occur as otherwise she may be spotted and saved; that she chose to do so at the main intersection of paths where she could be interrupted at any point would be unusual and to leave her car keys in her pocket with the car in the school playground where her children, to whom she was devoted, would see it would be cruel.
“For these and many other reasons I discount a conclusion of suicide as there is no evidence to support this conclusion.
“There was also no natural disease that contributed to Nikki’s death. The remaining conclusion is that of accidental death."
