Nicola Bulley drowned after accidentally falling in cold water, a coroner ruled today – after her partner said he believes she was trying to put a harness on their dog moments before.
The 45-year-old vanished after dropping off her daughters, six and nine, at school, and taking her usual dog walk along the River Wyre in St Michael’s, Lancashire, on January 27.
Dr James Adeley, senior coroner for Lancashire, recorded her death as accidental, saying she fell into the river and suffered ‘cold water shock’.
He said there was ‘no evidence as to why Nikki entered the water’ but said he had been able to rule out foul play, while there was no evidence of suicide.
He said: ‘Whether or not Nikki’s first breath was above or below the water, she would have lost consciousness before reaching the first point in the River Wyre where she could have touched the bottom.’
The coroner highlighted how Ms Bulley’s Fitbit – which was recovered from her body, charged and synchronised – recorded a ‘substantially increased heart rate’ at 9.22am and stopped recording steps after 9.30am.
In addition, she had adjusted the volume on her iPhone at 9.18am.
Ms Bulley was last seen by a fellow dog walker circling the field with Willow at 9.10am. Dr Adeley highlighted how police divers testified to the ‘almost vertical’ river bank beneath the bench where Ms Bulley’s phone was found shortly after 9.30am.
Ruling out third party involvement, he highlighted how none of the villagers who were in the field at the time had seen anyone suspicious in the immediate area.
Experts had told the inquest that Ms Bulley would have died ‘in seconds’ due to the shock of entering the ‘freezing’ water.
Mother-of-two Nicola Bulley, 45, vanished while walking her dog in Lancashire on January 27
Paul Ansell, Ms Bulley’s partner of 12 years, told the inquest he believes she went to put a harness on her dog shortly before falling into the river
Ms Bulley’s sister, Louise Cunningham, broke down as she told how her sibling had been struggling with the menopause and her ‘increased alcohol use’
Giving evidence earlier today, Ms Bulley’s partner Paul Ansell said he believes she was trying to put a harness on their dog moments before falling into the river.
He said this was to stop the dog getting caught in bushes, saying: ‘With her being a springer, she’s very erratic.’
A lawyer representing the Bulley family had called on the coroner to deliver an accidental death verdict earlier today.
Sophie Cartwright KC said: ‘What happened on the river bank shortly after 9.18am was a tragic accident.
‘There has been much rumour and suspicion and speculation around Nikki’s death but the family are very clearly of the view and submit to you that that rumour and speculation is allayed completely when looking at all the evidence.’
She added the family believe ‘Nikki’s death would have occurred very shortly after she entered the water’ after her body reacted in shock to the cold water.
This morning, Ms Bulley’s sister Louise Cunningham cried as she told of her sibling’s struggles with the menopause and ‘increased alcohol use’ in the months before her death.
Giving evidence afterwards, Ms Bulley’s partner Paul Ansell said she had experienced a ‘blip’ in her mental health over Christmas but was better by January.
He added: ‘She had a good day the day before [she went missing], came home full of beans, excited with work, with the meetings she had and plans for the year.’
Ms Bulley’s mother, Dorothy, also saw her on the evening before she went missing and said ‘everything was normal’.
Her father, Ernest, recalled how the family shared a ‘lovely evening’ and said the last words her daughter said to him were about her plans to ‘close’ a business deal.
Today, the inquest heard more information about Ms Bulley’s struggles with her mental health.
A crisis response vehicle was sent to her home on January 10 after concerns were raised about her alcohol consumption.
A day later, she went to A&E to be checked up after a fall.
Ms Cunningham said her sister had been struggling with symptoms of the menopause over Christmas 2022.
She told the coroner: ‘She discussed having some symptoms with the HRT, it was back in the summer of 2022.
‘She was having headaches, she couldn’t get the balance exactly right, she mentioned having struggles sleeping. She was taking lavender spray, herbal tea, anything that would relax her before bed.’
Ms Bulley stopped taking HRT over Christmas 2022 and brought up at a family meal that she was ‘struggling’ again with it, Ms Cunningham said.
She added: ‘She did have a bit of a blip over the Christmas period (of 2022) and come January she was getting back to herself – back to HRT medication, back to work and completely back to normal Nikki.’
A crisis response vehicle was sent to Ms Bulley’s home on January 10 after Ms Cunningham raised concerns about her escalating alcohol consumption since Christmas 2022 and not wanting to ‘engage’ with her two daughters.
She was in bed when mental health clinician Theresa Lewis Leevy went upstairs to see her and clearly ‘intoxicated’, she told the hearing.
‘She didn’t want to engage in conversation,’ she said. ‘The interaction it’s fair to say was quite brief.’
The following day Ms Bulley was seen at A&E at Blackpool Victoria Hospital after injuring the back of her head in a fall the previous evening, the inquest was told.
A CT scan was carried out to her head but there was no sign of injury. The inquest has not yet been told at what stage it was sustained.
Ms Cunningham said she had called the ambulance on January 10 because she was ‘concerned’ and wanted ‘peace of mind’.
She said afterwards Ms Bulley was ‘absolutely fuming’ with her for raising concerns but described it as ‘a bit of a wake-up call’ for her sister.
‘She was my sister, I was concerned,’ she said.
Ms Cunningham said she didn’t recall her sister making comments about ‘not wanting to be here’.
‘She’s never ever confided in me about any suicidal thoughts or anything like that at all.’
Ms Bulley was last seen walking her dog on a footpath by the River Wyre near to St Michael’s on Wyre
She said after Christmas 2022 Ms Bulley stopped taking her HRT medication as it ‘wasn’t doing a great deal’.
But after the mental health call-out she said her sister resumed taking it, reduced her alcohol content and focused back on her mortgage advisor job.
Ms Cunningham was asked by the coroner whether her sister would have deliberately abandoned Willow beside the river had she been planning to harm herself.
‘Absolutely not,’ she answered.
‘There’s no way Nikki would leave Willow unattended by choice.’
Ms Cunningham said she had been planning a spa day shortly before he sister’s death.
‘I literally confirmed it was booked but she didn’t pick up the message,’ she said today.
Earlier Ms Bulley’s GP, Dr Rebecca Gray, told how in late 2022 she had been struggling to sleep and complaining that her brain felt ‘overloaded’.
She first saw Ms Bulley for symptoms of anxiety in December 2018, prescribing antidepressants, but later moved her to beta blockers after experiencing tremors.
In July 2021 she began complaining of hot flushes and was diagnosed with being post-menopause and commenced on HRT.
Dr Gray said Ms Bulley had follow-up appointments to vary her prescription due to side-effects.
But shortly before Christmas she complained she was ‘struggling with her sleep’ and ‘her brain felt like it was overloaded’.
She had never spoken of being suicidal or considering self-harm, she added.
Asked if she had ever expressed suicidal thoughts, Paul Ansell said she had made ‘a couple of throwaway comments’ in the run-up to her disappearance, ‘but nothing that gave me concern’.=
Workers from Specialist Group International, a private underwater search and recovery company, on the River Wyre on February 6
A police diving team at the River Wyre near St Michael’s-on-Wyre in Lancashire on February 19
Mr Ansell said his partner had ‘always been a planner’, with the kitchen calendar constantly updated with all the family’s upcoming activities, while he brought ‘spontaneous nature’ to the relationship.
He said in his witness statement: ‘Nikki was a quiet person who enjoyed the simple side of life.
‘She was a very private person and kept herself to herself.’
Mr Ansell became tearful and was unable to continue his evidence after being asked whether she ‘adored’ nothing more than walking with Willow or her family.
Proceedings were adjourned briefly so he could compose himself.
The barrister representing Ms Bulley’s family told the coroner their belief was now that she had fallen into the water and drowned almost immediately, asking him to record a conclusion of accidental death.
She added that her family drew comfort from their belief that her death would have taken ‘seconds’, and said that based on the evidence heard at the inquest the outlandish theories which have swirled around her disappearance could now be dismissed.
Sophie Cartwright KC, representing Mr Ansell, Ms Bulley’s parents and her sister, said that ‘what occurred on the riverbank shortly after 9.18am was a tragic accident for Nikki’.
She cited evidence that Ms Bulley increased the volume on her handset at that point.
What happened next ‘must in some way be linked to the location of the dog harness’, which was later found on the ground between the bench and the river, she added.
Ms Cartwright said the family agreed with evidence given yesterday by experts on drowning that Ms Bulley would have inhaled a lethal amount of water on plunging unexpectedly into the icy river.
‘There has been much rumour and suspicion and speculation, particularly bearing in mind the time it took before Nikki’s body was found and identified,’ she said.
But she said the family were ‘very clearly of the view’ that the evidence heard at the inquest ‘completely’ allays the suspicion which has swirled around the case since Ms Bulley’s disappearance.
In addition, they are ‘comforted’ by the knowledge that her death would have happened within 30 seconds of slipping into the river, she said.
Ms Bulley alongside her partner Paul Ansell
Ms Bulley often shared photos of her outings with Willow on her Strava page, like this picture
Ms Cartwright said the contention was supported by eye witness accounts, mobile phone analysis, the post mortem and evidence about the treacherous state of the riverbank.
In addition, she had been in ‘good spirits’ that morning and making plans for the rest of the day and coming weekend.
She asked the coroner to formally dismiss the account of two villagers who reported hearing screams from the direction of the river between 9.35am and 9.55am as ‘irrelevant’.
The first day of the inquest yesterday heard how Ms Bulley’s dog, Willow, was found at a bench near to a ‘cliff edge’ – making it almost impossible for anyone who had fallen in to get out without assistance.
Upon being told in a call that her phone and Willow were discovered, her partner Paul Ansell said: ‘She’s struggling, the inquest heard.
Retired care worker Susan Jones said at around 10am on January 27 she was called by Penny Fletcher who found Willow and the phone.
She then ran into Ms Fletcher’s daughter-in-law, referenced only as Anne-Marie, who recognised Ms Bulley from the phone’s lock screen photo.
Anne-Marie rang the local school as well as speaking to Mr Ansell – who had said ‘she’s struggling’. The mortgage adviser’s body was found more than three weeks later and just over a mile downstream.
As Mr Ansell, 44, and parents Dot and Ernie wiped away tears, a pathologist ruled out assault or foul play, saying she was alive when she entered the water.
Two witnesses told the hearing they independently heard a brief scream coming from towards the river around the time she was last seen.
But the inquest was told a police timeline suggested it was likely she was already in the water at that point.
Ms Bulley’s phone, which was still on a work call, was found on a bench overlooking a ‘cliff-edge drop’ into the river
Ms Bulley vanished after dropping her daughters, aged six and nine, in St Michael’s-on-Wyre, then taking her usual dog walk.
Just after 9.30am a local businesswoman found Willow ‘giddy’ and loose near the river.
Her phone, still connected to her morning Teams call, was found on a nearby bench. Hundreds of volunteers joined a police search, but with no sign of her body, amateur sleuths took to social media to spread outlandish theories.
Police faced criticism after revealing she had been experiencing ‘significant issues with alcohol’ brought on by her struggle with the menopause.
Her body was found on February 19 and identified by dental records.
At the inquest at County Hall in Preston, police diver PC Matthew Thackray said the riverbank at the point where Ms Bulley is believed to have vanished had a steep ‘cliff edge’ into the ‘freezing’ water.
Senior coroner Dr James Adeley asked: ‘If you were in the water trying to get a foothold, would it be possible?’ ‘Not at all,’ he answered.
Professor Michael Tipton, an expert on the effects of falling into cold water, said just two breaths underwater in the river – which was just 3.6C (38.5F) that day – would have been ‘the lethal dose for drowning’.
‘In my opinion, if Nikki fell into the water at the point we’ve seen, there’s a very good chance the first gasp would have occurred with her head under the water,’ he said.
Dr Patrick Morgan, medical director of HM Coastguard, told the hearing even if she had managed to gasp air before she went under, it was unlikely she could have held her breath for more than ten seconds.
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