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Nicola Bulley was alive when she entered the water of the River Wyre and was not under the influence of alcohol, an inquest has heard.
Giving evidence at the two-day hearing, Home Office pathologist Dr Alison Armour said there is “no evidence” that Nicola Bulley was assaulted or harmed as her cause of death was confirmed as drowning.
The 45-year-old mortgage adviser disappeared on January 27 after dropping her two daughters, aged six and nine, at school and then taking her springer spaniel Willow for a walk along the river in St Michael’s on Wyre.
Pathologist Dr Alison Armour told the court: “Ms Bulley was alive when she entered the water – because it is an active process to swallow and inhale water into lungs. My opinion as to the cause of death is that it was drowning.”
The coroner asked if there was any evidence of third-party involvement in Ms Bulley’s death, to which Dr Armour said, in her opinion, “there was not”. She also added there was no evidence Ms Bulley had been harmed by a third-party.
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Mother at local school said she heard Nicola’s dog barking
Claire Cheshire, a mother at St Michaels on Wyre, Lancashire, which is the school of Ms Bulley’s two children, said she saw Ms Bulley outside the school gates on the morning of her disappearance, just after 8.35am.
Ms Cheshire, a sales executive, was talking with a group of mothers when Ms Bulley walked passed and greeted the group, before bending down say to hello to Ms Cheshire’s dog and smiling.
Ms Cheshire said this was “very normal behaviour” for Ms Bulley.
Ms Cheshire said she followed a similar path to Ms Bulley on her dog walk on 27 January on what was a “very quiet” morning.
Ms Cheshire spotted Ms Bulley when she heard Ms Bulley’s dog Willow barking “in vegetation a little bit behind Nikki”.
When the coroner asked if Ms Cheshire knew what Willow was barking at, Ms Cheshire said she did not know, although she had not seen anybody else.
She added: “Only five minutes before I’d walked past that section and not noticed anything unusual.”
Maryam Zakir-Hussain26 June 2023 14:481687786994
Local saw ‘man in black’ at end of allotment lane on morning Nicola disappeared
In a written statement, heating engineer Richard Fife confirmed that he saw Ms Bulley between 9.10am and 9.20am near the River Wyre.
While walking his dog, he also passed two other dog-walkers and a “man in black” who was standing at the end of the allotment lane.
While his dog attempted to approach Ms Bulley’s springer spaniel Willow, Mr Fife said that he was in “a rush” and did not speak to her.
“I could see she had her phone out in front of her and was looking at the screen. I could not see or hear if she was talking,” he said.
When leaving the area, Mr Fife noticed that the man wearing black clothes was still in the same location, which he found “quite strange” as he did not recognise him as a local. “
Once I found out that Nicola had gone missing, I was thinking about the day some more and I remembered the man in black and thought I’d tell the police incase it was useful,” he said.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain26 June 2023 14:431687786498
Mother at Nicola’s children’s school said she saw ‘nothing of concern’ on the morning of her disappearance
A mother at Ms Bulley’s children’s school told the court she saw Ms Bulley with her dog in the school car park on the morning of her disappearance.
She said Ms Bulley was acting similar to how she would on any other day doing the school run, reporting “nothing of concern” in Ms Bulley’s demeanour.
“She appeared how she normally would,” said Ms Kiernan. “Nothing I’d think would be any different from a normal day.”
The pair had a light-hearted conversation about Ms Bulley’s dog Willow. The coroner asked if Ms Bulley had come across as anxious or in a low mood, to which Ms Kiernan replied she did not.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain26 June 2023 14:341687785932
Nicola was a ‘holiday swimmer’ so ‘almost impossible’ to swim against fast current
The coroner has said Ms Bulley was a “holiday swimmer”. It has previously been established the water flow on 27 January was a metre per second.
Therefore, Ms Dennison Wilkins said it would have been “highly likely to be almost impossible to swim against the current”.
The coroner said Ms Bulley would also be making this decision while trying to hold her breathe and not drown.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain26 June 2023 14:251687784949
Nicola Bulley may have had to hold breath for ‘one of two seconds at best'
Nicola Bulley may have only been able to hold her breath for “one or two seconds at best” in the river, an inquest into her death heard.
Cold water expert Dr Patrick Morgan said: “(After falling in) the heart rate goes excessively high, the blood pressure surges excessively high.
“The heart pumps no blood, and the brain switches off. The potential conscious time here quoted are optimistic… it is potentially shorter.
“On the occasion that the individual has taken that initial gasp on the surface of the water and then gone below, the duration would be 10 seconds that you could hold your breath, and very likely one or two seconds at best.”
Maryam Zakir-Hussain26 June 2023 14:091687784812
Inquest has resumed
Inquest has resumed with Lorna Dennison Wilkins being sworn in to give evidence, she has been a serving police officer for 25 years.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain26 June 2023 14:061687782045
Nicola Bulley died from drowning, inquest told
Missing mother-of-two Nicola Bulley died from drowning and was alive when she entered the water, the inquest into her death heard.
Home Office pathologist Alison Armour, who carried out the post-mortem examination on the body of Ms Bulley, 45, said the evidence of water in her lungs and stomach led her to conclude the cause of death was drowning, and there was no other “third party” involved in her death.
Ms Bulley vanished after dropping her daughters, aged six and nine, at school, then taking her usual dog walk along the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire, on January 27.
Nicola Bulley died from drowning, inquest told
The mother-of-two was alive when she entered the River Wyre, and there was no ‘third party’ involved, a pathologist said.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain26 June 2023 13:201687780908
After two hours of evidence, the hearing is now breaking for a short adjournment over lunch. The hearing will resume at 1.50pm.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain26 June 2023 13:011687780612
Nicola could have entered a state of ‘very rapid incapacitaion'
The doctors said Nicola Bulley could have entered a state of “very rapid incapacitation”.
They said: “In the worst case scenario, you’ve replaced the air in the lungs with water, then you don’t have that oxygen available to you.
“So then you might have as little as 25 seconds of consciousness. But not all of that might be useful consciousness.”
The coroner summarised: “So the best case scenario is, someone of Nikki’s build and weight and in a water temperature of 3.6 degrees, would have approximately 48 seconds before losing consciousness and in worst case scenario it’s 1 to 2 seconds.”
Maryam Zakir-Hussain26 June 2023 12:561687780103
Doctors explain how body entering cold water can result in drowning
Professor Michael Tipton and Dr Patrick Morgan are giving evidence on how the body reacts to entering cold water and drowning.
They explained cold water shock describes the initial responses to immersion in cold water, which involves a rapid fall in body temperature, increased blood pressure and uncontrollable breathing.
When someone initially enters cold water there is an “uncontrollable breathe of up to two or three litres”, they said, adding that at 3.6 degrees, the water would have “provoked a particularly powerful response”.
In Ms Bulley’s case, at a weight of around 50kg, she would have inhaled one to two litres at that temperature, they explained.
Hence, they concluded, “It would only take one to two breathes to cross the lethal dose into drowning.”
The lethal does is around 2 litres of water for someone of that weight, with the initial gasp potentially taking you into that territory.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain26 June 2023 12:48
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