Nicola Bulley's death was an accident, coroner rules

Nicola Bulley's death was accidental and she did not have "any desire" to take her own life, a coroner concluded.

The 45-year-old drowned after falling into cold water, Dr James Adeley, senior coroner for Lancashire ruled.

Experts told the hearing entering cold water can cause a person to gasp and inhale water and drown in seconds.

After the verdict, Ms Bulley's family hit out at "wildly inaccurate speculation" on social media that followed her death

Ms Bulley's family still receive "negative targeted messages" on social media, as well as seeing "wildly inaccurate speculation" on a number of platforms months after her death, they said in a statement read by their lawyer, Terry Wilcox.

The family urged the public "to look at the facts the evidence that has been heard during the inquest, and the conclusion reached by the coroner and to ignore any amateur views and opinions and be mindful of the impact words bring".

He added: "The last few months have been extremely tough to process for our family.

"The emotional impact will stay long in our hearts and whilst we will never forget the loss of our Nikki, we will forever remember her as a brilliant mum, partner, daughter and sister that we all knew and loved so very much."

But he said the "help and support we have received over these past few months has meant more than words can say".

Ms Bulley went missing on a dog walk in St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire, on 27 January, prompting a major search, which led to intense public interest and a social media frenzy of conspiracy theories.

Her body was found in the River Wyre more than three weeks later on 19 February.

During the huge search after she vanished, police urged against people fuelling damaging rumours making their job harder and attracting sightseers to the village where she disappeared.

Lancashire Police came under fire after revealing Ms Bulley's struggles with alcohol and perimenopause.

The coroner said one purpose of the inquest was to "allay rumour and suspicion" and he would rely only on "reliable sources" and not explore the "theories advanced by those who contribute to social media fora".

Earlier the inquest heard Ms Bulley, a mother-of-two, had been "looking forward to the future" before she went missing.

Her partner of 12 years, Paul Ansell, said there had been concerns about her drinking and she had a "blip" over Christmas but she was back to herself by January.

He said: "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."

The inquest heard the family had called 999 with worries about her welfare earlier in January.

On the call-out Dr Theresa Leevy said the call followed Ms Bulley telling her sister she did not want to engage with her children and was "not wishing to be here".

Ms Bulley's former GP told the hearing there was "nothing" in her medical records to suggest she wanted to self-harm.

Dr Rebecca Gray said she had been receiving treatment for "low mood and anxiety" since December 2018, later telling of headaches, fatigue and lack of sleep.

Ms Bulley had been receiving HRT for the menopause since summer 2021, the inquest heard.

In his verdict Dr Adeley said there was "no evidence" to suggest Ms Bulley intended to take her own life.

He said: "Excluding a couple of comments over the Christmas period when she was acting out of character and were treated as throw away comments, there was no indication of any intention to take her own life.

"Her behaviour in the week before her death was back to normal, she had restarted her HRT therapy, stopped drinking some time before, was making plans for play dates and spa days with several people."

Dr Adeley said she was "becoming increasingly successful at her new career as a mortgage broker" and her behaviour during a parents visit the night before she went missing was "entirely normally".

He added: "The circumstances found after her death would also be extremely unusual for suicide where Nikki left Willow, a dog to who she was devoted and was described as a third child, alone on the river bank."

He said Ms Bulley would have had to have had "sufficient knowledge of cold water shock to realise as to how rapidly a death may occur as otherwise she may be spotted and saved".

"For these and many other reasons I discount a conclusion of suicide as there is no evidence to support this conclusion.

"There was also no natural disease that contributed to Nikki's death. The remaining conclusion is that of accidental death."

Speaking outside Preston's County Hall, Lancashire Constabulary's head of crime Det Ch Supt Pauline Stables said: "I want to start by saying that first and foremost my thoughts today are with Nikki's family and loved ones.

"They have been through the most unimaginable ordeal over the last six months and I can only hope that this inquest will help in some small way by answering some of the questions they had about what happened to Nikki on 27 January and will allow them to start the process of rebuilding their lives as best as they can."

She said she hoped the coroner's conclusion would put an end to "ill-informed speculation and conspiracy theories" surrounding Ms Bulley's death.

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