Nicola Bulley's partner has recalled the moment he realised something was terribly wrong, as the search for the missing mother enters its third week.
Paul Ansell spoke to Channel 5's Dan Walker in an extended interview about his missing partner. He talked about the “anger,” “confusion” and “utter disbelief” that he’d been feeling since she vanished, and told of the moment he realised something was wrong.
Paul explained that when Nicola takes the kids on the school run, just as she had on the morning of January 27, he usually gets an “hour to myself” when he can make a cup of tea.
He said: “She’s usually back at 9.45 [on average], 10am at a push. I got into the office at 10 saying: ‘She’ll be back in a minute.’ I was doing some emails, setting my day up… it got to say, 10.15 and I thought ‘she’s later than usual’ but I wasn’t particularly worried because she has come back at 10.15, 10.20 sometimes… it’s not often but she has got back [then].”
Police say the last sighting of Nicola was at around 9.10am, and her phone was located at 9.20 before being found on the bench by the river, still connected to a work call.
Paul described the moment he realised something was terribly wrong. He said: “It got to 10.30 and that’s when I thought: ‘She’s quite late now, more late than usual.’ I tried ringing her phone, ringing her on WhatsApp… no answer. I started to get a bit panicky, I think."
“That’s when I thought: ‘I’m gonna have to go down there, see if she’s alright. I still expected to see her there, there she is.'”
He described getting ready to go to the gym as he normally would and check on her on the way - but then his phone rang - it was the kids’ school saying Nicola’s phone and Willow had been found.
He said: “In an instant it’s like your whole… I knew straight away that it wasn’t normal. I said: ‘Well where is she?’ I knew she would never in a million years leave Willow. Willow is like our third child… the fact that Willow is just in the field on her own off the lead is concerning.
"I’m just in a mad panic then… I got hit by that weird, it’s like your world just drops out because you know something weird has happened. I got in the car, drove down there, ran down the river to where the bench is… someone had willow, there were a few other dog walkers, handed me Willow, handed me Nikki’s phone.”
He said he phoned the police at 10.45am and was then told to go home so they could speak to him.
Lancashire Police have continued to investigate Nicola's disappearance on the premise that she fell into the River Wyre. However, despite extensive scouring, she had still not been found.
Officers have now started trawling across Morecambe Bay, some 20 miles from where police believe Nicola fell in.
Peter Faulding, the head of a team of divers involved in the search, said he doesn't believe the mother-of-two is in the river.
"If Nicola was in that river, I would have found her – I guarantee you that – and she's not in that section of the river," he said.
He added that he believes it unlikely that Nicola has drifted all the way out to sea.
"My personal view is that I think it is a long way to go in a tidal river," he said.
