'You don't do that if you want to go missing': Nicola Bulley texted friend to set up playdate minutes before vanishing
3 February 2023, 08:43 | Updated: 3 February 2023, 09:21
Missing mum Nicola Bulley set up a playdate by text just minutes before she vanished, a friend has revealed.
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The pal - who did not want to be named - said this shows she had not intended to go missing.
Ms Bulley had been walking her Spaniel, Willow at 9.15am on Friday last week near the river before vanishing, having dropped her two daughters off at school in St Michaels on Wyre in Lancashire.
She was dialled in to a work conference call at the time.
"She booked a playdate, 8.57, she sent a text message to a friend whose mortgage she had just recently signed off on to arrange for the girls to go for tea this week," said the friend, who lives in the village.
"You wouldn't have done that if you were going to get up and go missing."
Nicola's sister, Louise Cunningham, said it felt like she was "stuck in a nightmare" as the family awaited answers.
"We're going round and round in circles trying to piece together what could have possibly happened," she said.
"It's like she's just vanished into thin air. We just want her home, we need her home, her children need her home. It's absolutely heartbreaking."
Read more: Hunt for 'woman in red' as police step up search for missing mum Nicola Bulley
On Nicola’s daughters, her sister told Sky News: "Their little minds are trying to process. They don't understand, none of us really understand.
"When there’s children involved you have to carry on."
Her dad, Ernie Bulley, said: "They know mummy's missing, they know she's going to be coming home."
He said she did the same dog walk "day in, day out".
"It's just routine, we are baffled by it," he said.
Officers want to speak to a woman seen on local CCTV believed to have been in the area at the time Ms Bulley went missing.
She is described as wearing a red and white coat with a fur hood, light-coloured trousers and a light bobble hat. She was walking a small, white dog.
She was seen on CCTV at around 8.48am on Allotment Lane, close to where Nicola was last seen and was also seen near to the gate at the end of Allotment Lane.
Police and divers conduct search for Nicola Bulley
Read more: Woman, 45, who went missing while walking dog ‘was on work conference call when she disappeared’
Specialist officers are scouring the area and have sealed off the bench where Ms Bulley's phone was discovered almost a week ago.
A dive team and sniffer dogs were seen on the banks of the River Wyre in Lancashire as the search for the mother-of-two stepped up in its seventh day on Thursday.
An officer could be seen standing guard on the bank as teams searched the river with an underwater camera.
Overhanging trees along the river were also checked for items of interest.
Bunches of flowers were left at the scene from local dog walkers paying tribute to Ms Bulley and her family.
Ms Bulley's father said he was struggling to "hold it together" as he awaited updates on his daughter.
He told the Mirror he was struggling to be in the same room as his granddaughters, aged six and nine, as they ask: "Where mummy is, and when is mummy coming home?"
"It's so hard," he added.
Her last known movements
- 9.15am January 27: Nicola was seen walking east along a towpath alongside the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire She was walking her dog there after dropping her daughters off at School, leaving her car in the school car park nearby
- 10.15am: The alarm is raised at 10.15am by a walker who found her Springer Spaniel running loose The dog’s harness and lead were found on a bench, along with her phone, which was still connected to a work conference call
Her parents, Ernest, 73 and Dot, 72 told the paper: "We will never stop looking for her."
They said she was in good spirits last time they spoke and that her disappearance was totally out of character.
Her dad said there was 'no sign' of her having fallen in the river. Ernest said: "There was no sign of a slip or falling in so our thought was 'has somebody got her'?
Talking about their last conversation, her dad said: “"She had done her work and she was very upbeat about getting her mortgage sorted.
"I said we better go now and Nicola came to the front door, and I gave her a kiss and told her I loved her and that was the last conversation I had with her."
Police and sniffer dogs are searching the perimeter of an 'abandoned' old house in the hunt for her.
It comes after it emerged Nicola's daughters heard the devastating news their mum had gone missing when their dad told them "mummy's lost".
Nicola's daughters broke down in tears at the news and a friend of hers said: "We just want her home."
Nicola has been missing for five days now, after she vanished while walking her dog on a towpath by the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire.
Her phone was on a bench near the spot she went missing, still dialled into a business call.
Ms Bulley's mum told the Sun: “Paul had to tell the girls what was going on. He just told them, ''Mummy's lost''. It's heartbreaking.”
An abandoned house has been searched as part of the hunt for missing mum Nicola.
Kev Camplin of Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue told The Mirror: "The abandoned house is right opposite the bench on the other side of the river, over a 10ft garden wall.
"We didn’t go into the house, as a volunteer search and rescue team we don’t actually go into buildings. We might go into a barn or something. We leave that to the police.
"While the team was searching the grounds, the owner was there for some reason, and we asked him to go in and he had a quick look around and she wasn’t there."
Earlier on Tuesday, Lancashire Police had appealed to find a witness who was believed to have been in the area at the time mother-of-two Nicola Bulley, 45, was last seen.
She went missing last Friday morning, with her mobile phone found on a bench near to where she was last seen on a towpath by the River Wyre in St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire.
Immediately before going missing, Ms Bulley was walking her dog, springer spaniel Willow, who was found loose between the river and bench.
A police spokesman said of the potential witness: "He has since been located and is currently being spoken to.
"Our thanks to those who shared our appeal."
Earlier police had said the man, who was walking a small white fluffy dog on a lead, had spoken to a woman in the area who found Ms Bulley's dog, before he walked in the direction of Rowanwater.
Police have said they are keeping an "open mind" about what happened, but do not believe Ms Bulley was attacked.
In a statement, her family said: "We have been overwhelmed by the support from our community and would like to thank everyone for their ongoing efforts to help us find Nicola.
"The girls are desperate to have their mummy back home safe with them and your ongoing efforts have provided comfort to them whilst we await news on Nicola.
"We ask for anyone who thinks they may have any information that may help the police find Nicola to please come forward and help them with their inquiries."
A search of the area involving police specialist resources, the Coastguard and Bowland Mountain Rescue is continuing.
Ms Bulley is described as white, 5ft 3in, with light brown, shoulder-length hair.
Superintendent Sally Riley said: “We know that Nicola going missing has caused a great deal of concern for the wider local community, as well as obviously being an awful time for her family.
“This remains a missing person inquiry and at this time there is nothing to suggest any third-party involvement in Nicola’s disappearance.
“I appreciate that there are unanswered questions about what has happened to Nicola, but I would urge people not to speculate or spread false rumours. We will share updates when we can, but we must be factual.
“Nicola’s family are being kept up to date with events and are being supported by officers.
“We are really grateful for the community’s help and co-operation so far, but I’d like to stress again parts of the riverbank are treacherous, especially after the recent rain, and we would ask that nobody puts themselves in danger and that the police and partner agencies’ efforts to find Nicola are not compromised.
“We now want to speak to the woman pictured on CCTV as we believe she was walking in the area at around the time Nicola was last seen.
"If you know her, or believe this may be you, please get in touch. You may not think you know anything but you might have seen something that could be significant.”
Anyone who has seen Ms Bulley, or has information about where she might be, is asked to call 101, quoting log 565 of January 30, or call 999 if they have an immediate sighting.
