Nicola Bulley's family did not have to identify her after her body was found in the River Wyre in Lancashire on Sunday, an inquest has heard. The 45-year-old was last seen on January 27.
She had been walking her dog in St Michael’s on Wyre after dropping her daughters, aged six and nine, at school.
Nicola was identified by dental records, the opening of her inquest at Lancashire Coroner’s Court heard.
Opening an inquest into the death of Nicola Bulley, 45, senior coroner Dr James Adeley said he had contacted consultant maxillofacial surgeon Andrew Ian Edwards to ask him to compare dental records obtained by police from the Great Eccleston dental surgery.
He said: “He examined the body that was located in the River Wyre near Rawcliffe Road in St Michael’s on Wyre at 2.15pm on February 20.”
Dr Adeley said the surgeon found restorative work carried out was identical.
He said: “I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities, and more, that positive identification has been made.”
The coroner said: “The family have been informed of the date, time and place of the opening of the inquest and have chosen not to attend for reasons I can quite understand.”
He said remaining evidence gathered by police and the post-mortem examination required “further evaluation” and a full inquest was likely to be held in June, once availability of a Home Office pathologist had been checked.
He said: “This will allow time to collate the facts of the case and allow the experts involved to finalise the findings from investigations that still need to be undertaken.”
The hearing was attended by six members of the press and lasted about five minutes.
Nicola's family paid tribute to the 45-year-old in a statement read by the force’s head of crime Detective Chief Superintendent Pauline Stables on Monday. The statement read: “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.”
Following the death of Nicola Bulley, readers can leave their tributes to her and messages to the family here https://nicolabulleytributes.com/
