Police searching for missing Nicola Bulley have reported that a body has been found in the River Wyre in Lancashire. News of grim discovery first broke on Sunday afternoon, with police being called to a rural spot a mile away from where the mum-of-two had reportedly gone missing on January 27 after dropping her children off at school.
It has been clamed that officers had been alerted to the find by a man and a woman who'd been walking downstream of the area where the 45-year-old's phone was found on an riverbank bench, still connected to a work Teams call.
Her dog Willow's harness had been left lying on the grass, while the animal itself was located nearby. Extensive searches of both the Wyre and the surrounding land followed, yet no trace of Nicola could be found.
However, according to The Mirror, the detectives who first responded to yesterday's call were told, "It was a body. It is down there. It was a body of a woman. There is definitely a body down there.
READ MORE: Nicola Bulley: The timeline of how a tragic search unfolded
A witness said: "I noticed a man and a woman and two police officers on the embankment. I heard the man talking to police about something in the undergrowth.
"Police cars were flying down the road with the blues and twos going. A police officer pulled up a few minutes later and got his drone out.
"Five minutes later the helicopter arrived. Officers asked to me get out so I moved 200 yards down the road.
"I could still clearly see the man pointing at the riverbank. Then more police cars raced down with the blues and twos going. They cleared the entire road.”
Lancashire Police's Senior Investigating Officer Det Supt Rebecca Smith arrived at the area to oversee recovery of the body. A white forensic tent was also erected at the scene.
A statement from the force - which faces fierce criticism for having recently disclosed Nicola's 'significant issues with alcohol' brought on by the menopause - read: "We were called today at 11.36am to reports of a body in the River Wyre. An underwater search team and specialist officers have subsequently attended the scene, entered the water and have sadly recovered a body.
"No formal identification has yet been carried out, so we are unable to say whether this is Nicola Bulley at this time. Procedures to identify the body are ongoing.
“We are currently treating the death as unexplained. Nicola’s family have been informed of developments and our thoughts are with them at this most difficult of times."
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