A friend of missing Nicola Bulley has said the mum was seen "laughing and joking" moments before she vanished. The mum of two disappeared last Friday (January 27) while on a dog walk, with the springer spaniel since found off her harness and lead.
Police launched an investigation when the 45-year-old disappeared after dropping her children at school in St Michael's-on-Wyre, Lancashire. Her dog Willow was found on a path along the River Wyre in St Michael's-on-Wyre on Friday morning.
It's understood the mum's mobile phone was found on the ground next to a bench overlooking the water. The friend, who wishes to stay anonymous, said she has spoken to a pair who believe they were the last people to see Nicola before she went missing, the Mirror reports.
She said: "They say she was laughing and joking with them as she went by." She also said dog walkers saw the phone and recognised the picture on the screensaver.
Unable to unlock the phone, she said they contacted a friend who then called St Michael's-on-Wyre Church of England Primary School, where Nicola had dropped her two children earlier that morning. The friend said partner Paul Ansell was contacted and went to the scene and called the police.
"As far as I’m aware, no one called the police until Paul arrived," she said. The friend then said the dog walker saw Willow and the harness and lead on the floor. Then a male dog walker, who came behind her, spotted the phone.
She said: "The gent has looked on the floor and two feet from the bench there’s a phone. I think she’s either been faffing about at the edge of the river because the dog’s been smelling fishing bait and she’s slipped or she’s had a medical episode."
A large-scale police search was launched. A search was conducted of the grounds of a large country home across the river from the bench, as reported by the Mirror yesterday. The property arrived and agreed to search inside the house.
The home is not occupied full-time and is subject to ongoing renovation work, according to the friend. She went on to say local residents met at the village hall on Sunday, with Paul, to organise their own search.
Paul is understood to have searched a different abandoned house in between the village hall and the Ivy Dene Alpacas site prior to the meeting. The friend said police advised them to search upriver in a pincer movement.
She said that In the afternoon, a second search of around 100 people set out, which included the headteacher from the primary school. She added: "Moving forward, between nine and three Monday to Friday the tennis courts at St Michael's are open and there are designated routes on maps printed.
"You can pick one of them up, they’ve got a QR code so you can log in and log out. The only condition to any of that is you must be in a pair."
The friend, who had walked the route with Nicola before, said: "I know that river well, walked it many times, I know where I can stand and where I can’t stand. She knew the same thing.
"At the end of the day, all we want is her at home with her girls. If she could be at home with the girls, she would be at home with the girls, 100 percent, no doubt about it."
