14 April 2023 , 16:06
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Police investigating the circumstances of Nicola Bulley's death have released a statement explaining why they have launched a new river search in response to 'misinformed speculation'.
It comes after walkers reported that police divers had returned to the area of the River Wyre where the tragic mum was last seen.
The 45-year-old went missing on January 27 this year, sparking a three week high-profile search operation which ended when her body was found.
Explaining the return of police divers to the river, a spokesperson from Lancashire Police said on Friday: “There has been misinformed speculation over the past few days relating to police activity in the River Wyre.
"As previously stated, police divers were acting under instruction of HM Senior Coroner and had been asked to assess the riverbanks in the vicinity of where Nicola Bulley went missing.
Mum appeared 'completely normal' moments before vanishing while walking dog
Walkers reported seeing diving teams return to the location on the River Wyre where she was found last week (Youtube / Maria Solarz)"They had not been tasked either to perform any further searches within the river or along the banks or to locate any articles. This activity is to assist with the coronial process.”
On April 11, divers were spotted in the river where mother-of-two Nicola vanished.
A diving team was seen in the water not far from a weir and downstream from a bench where police believe Ms Bulley, 45, went into the water in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire, on January 27.
She vanished while walking her dog along the River Wyre after dropping her daughters, aged six and nine, at school, sparking a huge search operation and intense media and public interest.
Police said on Friday that diving teams had returned to the location under instruction of HM Senior Coroner (PA)Helicopters, drones and specialist search teams were all used during the course of the search, and her body was found in the river on 23 days after she went missing around a mile downstream from the bench.
Police divers were again spotted in the River Wyre on April 4, and a brief clip was uploaded to YouTube.
Lancashire Police said in a statement at the time: “We can confirm we are carrying out some work on the direction of HM coroner.”
Unprecedented amounts of online speculation during the police search for Nicola earlier this year led to criticism of so-called vigilante 'TikTok detectives', who were said to have irritated locals and created issues for police by their unwelcome presence around the river and surrounding village.
Videos uploaded to social media websites under relevant tags received large numbers of views, many of which spread conspiracy theories or misleading information about her disappearance.
Some of the amateur sleuths filmed themselves digging up woodland in the days after she went missing, while others were reported to have peered into windows of nearby houses.
An inquest into Ms Bulley’s death is to be held on June 26.