Police say ‘key witness’ in Nicola Bulley disappearance has come forward – live

A woman described as a “key witness” by police searching for missing dog walker Nicola Bulley has come forward.

This after officers said on Saturday that they wanted to trace a person seen pushing a pram in the area near where the dog walker went missing.

In an update on its Facebook page, Lancashire Police said the woman had come forward “very quickly”.

“We must stress that she was very much being treated as a witness and was one of many people in St Michael’s on Friday 27 January.

The disappearance of Nicola Bulley has puzzled police since she was last seen on the morning of 27 January.

In a news conference held on 3 February, Lancashire Police stated that their main working hypothesis was that Ms Bulley “fell” into the river, and that the incident was “not suspicious”, but the “tragic case of a missing person.”

But Ms Bulley’s family contest that idea and as the mystery continues, we look at unanswered questions surrounding her disappearance.

Police have revealed the clothes Nicola Bulley was last seen wearing before she disappeared.

“I do have an update on the clothing that Nicola was last seen wearing, and this is something that the public who live in the area, or who walk their dogs on the river path near to St Michael’s or downstream of St Michael’s towards Morecambe Bay, can look out for,” Superintendent Sally Riley told Friday’s press conference.

“They are an ankle-length black quilted gilet jacket, a black Engelbert Strauss waist-length coat which was worn underneath the gilet, tight-fitting black jeans, long green walking socks tucked into her jeans, ankle-length green Next wellies, a necklace and a pale blue Fitbit.

“It’s really important that the public pay heed to those very specific clothing descriptions please, because factual sightings of those items would be very useful to us.”

The partner of Nicola Bulley has spoken out publicly for the first time since the mother-of-two went missing.

Paul Ansell said: “We’re never going to lose hope, but right now it’s as though she vanished into thin air, it’s just insane.”

My colleague Thomas Kingsley has more details:

A friend of Nicola Bulley’s has said that police are working to get data from the missing dog walker’s Fitbit.

“The Fitbit had not been synced since Tuesday,” Emma White told The Sun. “The police are trying other ways to try to get information from it.”

The police have offered this timeline of Nicola Bulley’s last-known movements:

8.43am – Nicola walked along the path by the River Wyre, having dropped her children off at school

8:50am (approximately) – A dog-walker – somebody who knows Nicola – saw her walking around the lower field with her dog. Their two dogs interacted briefly before the witness left the field via the river path

8.53am – She sent an email to her boss

9.01am – She logged into a Teams call

9.10am (approximately) – A witness – somebody who knows Nicola – saw her on the upper field walking her dog, Willow. Work is ongoing today to establish exactly what time this was.

9.30am – The Teams call ended but Nicola stayed logged on

9.35am (approximately) – Nicola’s mobile phone and Willow were found at a bench by the river by another dog-walker.

Lancashire Police said: “Officers leading the search for Nicola Bulley who is missing in St Michael’s on Wyre need to trace a key witness who they believe was in the area on the morning of Nicola’s disappearance.

“A woman was seen walking on Garstang Road/Blackpool Road, St Michael’s on the morning of Friday 27 January pushing a pram.

“She was seen walking from the direction of Allotment Lane towards the Grapes public house at approximately 8.22am and is seen again walking on Allotment Lane towards Garstang Road at 8.41am.

“It is believed that the female in question may have walked along the river path during these times and so detectives want to speak to her and urge her to get in touch.

“We are also appealing to anyone who was driving down Blackpool Lane/Garstang Lane on the morning of Friday 27th January between the times of 9am and 10am who has dash cam footage on their vehicles to make contact.”

Here is the CCTV picture of the person to whom police are appealing for information: