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Missing dog walker’s phone was still connected to work conference call

Nicola Bulley, 45, was walking her spaniel by the River Wyre when she vanished on Friday morning - Lancashire Police
Nicola Bulley, 45, was walking her spaniel by the River Wyre when she vanished on Friday morning - Lancashire Police

A missing dog walker’s phone was still connected to a conference call when it was discovered, police have said.

Nicola Bulley, a mother of two, had been walking the family dog in Lancashire when she vanished on Friday morning. She was last seen at around 9.15am.

The alarm was raised when a friend found the springer spaniel, called Willow, running free beside the River Wyre in the village of St Michael’s on Wyre, more than an hour later. Police then discovered the 45-year-old’s phone on a bench in the village. The conference call was still ongoing.

A large search operation has been in place since Friday, and police say they are “keeping an open mind” about what could have happened.

Paul Ansell, Ms Bulley’s partner, speaking from the family home in Inskip, Lancashire, said he had spent all of Sunday searching for her.

The engineer, who has been in a relationship with Ms Bulley for 12 years, told PA: “It is just perpetual hell. It is just utter disbelief. We are living through this but it doesn’t feel real.

“All we can say is we need to find her. She’s got two little girls that need their mummy home. We have got to get some good news now.”

Police indicated that Ms Bulley, a mortgage adviser, had dropped her daughters, aged nine and six, at school before taking the dog for a walk and joining the work call.

Ben Pociecha, the director of Exclusively Mortgages , told The Telegraph that she had logged onto a team meeting at 9.01am on Friday.

Watch: Police extremely concerned about dog walker missing for three days

“It seems as if she was muted and didn’t have her camera on. She was listening in whilst walking her dog,” he said. “There were numerous parties involved in this. A lot of people attended the call. The police are investigating the call.”

Lancashire Constabulary have carried out “significant, resource-intensive” searches using a police helicopter, drones and police dogs, with support from Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue and the North West underwater search team.

Twenty-five volunteers from Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue had been involved in the search operation on Friday. Kev Camplin, the team leader, told The Telegraph a “long stretch” of the River Wyre had been searched on both sides, along with “wooded areas, land, ditches, other water margins and the grounds of an old abandoned house”.

Local community members have also organised search efforts in the St Michael’s area.

Nicola Bulley, 45, has been missing since Friday - Dave Nelson/Mirrorpix
Nicola Bulley, 45, has been missing since Friday - Dave Nelson/Mirrorpix
Volunteers from the local community have joined the search for her - Dave Nelson/Mirrorpix
Volunteers from the local community have joined the search for her - Dave Nelson/Mirrorpix

On Monday, Superintendent Sally Riley, of Lancashire Police, said: “We appeal for anyone who may have been driving through the village of St Michael’s last Friday morning at about 9.15am, or who may have dashcam footage that could be of use to us, or people who may have been dog-walking in the area or on the towpath, to come forward.

“We do believe that the likelihood is that Nicola has gone missing and this is not a crime inquiry, but we are keeping an open mind. The banking is very steep down to the river from the spot where she was last seen.

“It is shocking, and it is a close knit community. It is unusual for people to go missing in these circumstances. It is very sad, and we are doing everything to try and find Nicola safe and well.”

Officers added that Ms Bulley knows the area well and walks there regularly.

Nicola is white, 5ft 3ins tall, has light brown shoulder-length hair. She has lived in Lancashire for 25 years but is originally from near Chelmsford, Essex, and has a southern accent.

She was wearing a long black gilet jacket with a hood, black jeans and olive green ankle wellies when she was last seen, and her hair was in a ponytail.