Nicola Bulley’s partner told the mother-of-two today how he texted her asking “are you lost?” on the morning she disappeared.
The 45-year-old disappeared after dropping her daughters, six and nine, at school before taking her usual dog walk along the River Wyre in Lancashire on January 27.
Her phone was found on a bench by the river, still on a work call. Experts say she would have drowned “within seconds” from the shock of entering the “freezing” water.
Today, her sister Louise Cunningham cried as she spoke of her brother’s struggle with menopause and “increased alcohol consumption” in the months leading up to her death.
Ms Bulley’s partner, Paul Ansell, testified afterwards and said she 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 the day before she went missing and told today’s inquest that ‘everything was normal’.
Mother-of-two Nicola Bulley, 45, disappeared on January 27 while walking her dog in Lancashire
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 she fell into the river
Mrs Bulley’s sister, Louise Cunningham, broke down when she spoke of how her brother struggled with menopause and her ‘increased alcohol consumption’
Today, the inquest heard how a crisis response vehicle was sent to Ms Bulley’s home in January after concerns were raised about her drinking.
The next day she was hospitalized due to a fall.
Ms Cunningham said her sister struggled with menopausal symptoms over Christmas 2022.
She told the coroner: She discussed having some symptoms with the HRT, it was in the summer (of 2022).
“She had a headache, she couldn’t get the balance just right, she said she had trouble sleeping. She took lavender spray, herbal teas, anything that would relax her before bed.”
Ms Bulley stopped taking HRT over Christmas 2022 and mentioned at a family meal that she was ‘struggling’ with it again, Ms Cunningham said.
She added: “She had a bit of a dip over the Christmas period (of 2022) and in January she got back to herself – back on HRT meds, back to work and all the way back to normal Nikki.”
On January 10, a crisis response vehicle was dispatched to Ms Bulley’s home after Ms Cunningham expressed concern over her escalating alcohol consumption since Christmas 2022 and not wanting to have “contact” with her two daughters.
She was in bed when Theresa Lewis Leevy, a mental health psychiatrist, went upstairs to see her and was clearly “intoxicated,” she told the hearing.
“She didn’t want to start a conversation,” she said. “The interaction was, frankly, quite brief.”
The following day, Ms Bulley was seen in the ER at Blackpool Victoria Hospital after injuring the back of her head in a fall the previous evening, the inquest was told.
A CT scan of her head was done, but there was no sign of injury. The judicial inquiry has not yet been told at what stage it was supported.
Ms Cunningham said she called the ambulance on January 10 because she was ‘concerned’ and wanted ‘peace of mind’.
She said afterwards that Ms Bulley was “absolutely furious” at her for raising her concerns, but described it as “a bit of a wake-up call” for her sister.
“She was my sister, I was worried,” she said.
Ms Cunningham said she couldn’t remember her sister making comments about ‘not wanting to be here’.
“She never confided in me about suicidal thoughts or anything like that.”
She said Ms Bulley stopped taking her HRT medication after Christmas 2022 because it was ‘not doing much’.
But after the mental health call, she said her sister picked it up again, reduced her alcohol content and refocused on her job as a mortgage advisor.
Mrs Cunningham was asked by the coroner if her sister would have deliberately left Willow beside the river if she intended to harm herself.
“Absolutely not,” she replied.
“There’s no way Nikki would voluntarily leave Willow unattended.”
Ms Cunningham said she planned a spa day shortly before his sister’s death.
“I literally confirmed it was booked, but she didn’t take the message,” she said today.
Previously, Ms Bulley’s GP, Dr Rebecca Gray, told how she was struggling to sleep in late 2022 and complained that her brain felt ‘overworked’.
She first saw Ms Bulley for anxiety symptoms in December 2018, prescribing anti-depressants, but later switched her to beta-blockers after experiencing tremors.
In July 2021 she started complaining of hot flashes and was diagnosed postmenopausal and started HRT.
Workers from Specialist Group International, a privately owned underwater search and recovery company, on the River Wyre on Feb. 6
Dr. Gray said Ms Bulley had follow-up appointments to change her prescription because of side effects.
But shortly before Christmas, she complained that she was “struggling with her sleep” and “her brain felt like it was overloaded.”
She had never talked about being suicidal or considering self-harm, she added.
When asked if she had ever expressed suicidal thoughts, Paul Ansell said she made “a few throwaway comments” leading up to her disappearance, “but nothing that concerned me.”
Mr Ansell said he thought she had been trying to re-harness the family dog Willow the moment she disappeared.
The 44-year-old said it was their practice to remove the harness from the spaniel before entering the river fields where Ms Bulley was training her on the morning of January 27.
He said this was to keep the dog from getting caught in the bushes and said, “Because she’s a jumper, she’s very erratic.”
They would then put her harness back on when they got to the gate next to the river bank on which her phone was later found before walking back to the car.
The technician said her normal Friday morning routine was to dial in to work while walking that Teams called with her cell phone on speaker.
Coroner Dr James Adeley asked for his opinion on why the dog harness was found between the bank and the river.
He replied, “I think she must have put the phone on the couch, listened to it, and then put the harness back on Willow.”
Mr Ansell said his partner had ‘always been a planner’, constantly updating the kitchen calendar with all the family’s upcoming activities while bringing ‘spontaneous nature’ to the relationship.
He said in his testimony: ‘Nikki was a quiet person who enjoyed the simple side of life.
“She was a very private person and kept to herself.”
He then began to cry and was taken away.
On the first day of the inquest yesterday, learned how Ms Bulley’s dog, Willow, was found on a bench near a ‘rock ledge’ – making it nearly impossible for anyone who had fallen in to get out unaided. come.
When she was told during a phone call that her phone and Willow had been discovered, her partner Paul Ansell said, “She’s struggling, the inquest heard.
Retired counselor Susan Jones said she received a call around 10 a.m. on Jan. 27 from Penny Fletcher who found Willow and the phone.
She then ran into Mrs. Fletcher’s daughter-in-law, referred to only as Anne-Marie, who recognized Mrs. Bulley from the photo on the phone’s lock screen.
Anne-Marie phoned the local school and also spoke to Mr Ansell – who had said ‘she’s having a hard time’. The mortgage broker’s body was found more than three weeks later and just over a mile downriver.
As Mr Ansell, 44, and parents Dot and Ernie wipe away tears, a pathologist ruled out foul play and said she was alive when she entered the water.
Two witnesses said at the hearing that they independently heard a short scream coming from the direction of the river about the time she was last seen.
But the inquest was told that a police timeline suggested it was likely she was already in the water at the time.
Mrs Bulley disappeared after dropping off her daughters, aged six and nine, at St Michael’s-on-Wyre, after which she made her usual dog walk.
A little after 9:30 a.m., a local businesswoman found Willow “dizzy” and loose by the river.
Her phone, still connected to her morning Teams call, was found on a nearby bench. Hundreds of volunteers participated in a police investigation, but with no sign of her body, amateur sleuths took to social media to spread bizarre theories.
Police were criticized after revealing she had “significant problems with alcohol” brought on by her struggles with menopause.
Her body was found on February 19 and identified by dental records.
During 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 disappeared had a steep ‘cliff edge’ in the ‘freezing’ water.
Dr. James Adeley, senior coroner, asked, “If you tried to get a foothold in the water, would that be possible?” “Not at all,” he replied.
Professor Michael Tipton, an expert on the effects of falling into cold water, said just two breaths underwater in the river – which was just 3.6°C (38.5°F) that day – was “the deadly dose for drowning’.
“In my opinion, if Nikki fell into the water at the point we’ve seen, there’s a very good chance that the first gasp would have occurred with her head submerged,” he said.
Dr. Patrick Morgan, medical director of HM Coastguard, told the hearing that even if she had managed to gasp for air before setting, it was unlikely she could have held her breath for more than ten seconds.
Helen O’Neill, a nurse who lives close to the bank, said she heard a “scream” the morning of the disappearance.
At the same time, tennis coach Veronica Claesen heard a ‘very short scream’. The judicial inquiry will be concluded today.
The judicial investigation continues.