Nicola Bulley: Parish councillors receive vile messages, leader says

A council has removed parish councillors’ contact details after several received “vile” telephone calls over missing Nicola Bulley.

The 45-year-old went missing on 27 January after a riverside dog walk in St Michael’s on Wyre in Lancashire.

Wyre Council leader Michael Vincent said the abusive calls made on Saturday had been reported to police.

He said it would “not tolerate” abuse of elected members. Lancashire Police said it was “looking into” the matter.

The force is working on one hypothesis the mortgage adviser could have fallen into the river during her walk after dropping her daughters, aged six and nine, at school that morning.

Officers are continuing to search the water, heading towards Morecambe Bay, with mounted police also taking part in the search in Knott End.

Wyre Council said it has removed contact details for Inskip with Sowerby Parish Council members temporarily from its website after some received inappropriate phone calls and emails relating to the missing dog walker case.

“We appreciate the emotional gravity of the situation, however, we will not tolerate any form of abuse of any of our elected members of Wyre Borough Council or any of the town and parish councils within our borders or our staff,” Mr Vincent said.

“It is a shame we have had to take this step at such a difficult time and appropriate steps are being taken to ensure that residents are still able to contact their elected representatives.”

Describing the calls as “vile” he also reiterated appeals for people to stay away from the village after an influx of visitors from far afield since Ms Bulley’s disappearance.

“It has been busier than ever this weekend,” he said.

“People seem to want to play detectives but please stay away and leave it to the police.

“The community want to return to some sort of normality.”

He said some residents had been left scared by people peering into their properties at night leading them to bring in private security.

Last week, police said they had stopped people filming on social media at houses near where Ms Bulley disappeared.

It said it had issued two dispersal notices to individuals and warned others about anti-social behaviour in the area.

Mr Vincent praised locals for how they had come together since Ms Bulley has vanished.

“The community has shown great strength and resilience during the investigation and we urge everyone to continue to show compassion and empathy.”

It comes as a friends leave yellow ribbons with messages of hope on a footbridge over the River Wyre near to where Ms Bulley was last seen.

Ms Bulley was last seen by another dog walker at about 09:10 GMT.

About 25 minutes later her phone, still connected to a Teams call, was found on a bench on a steep riverbank overlooking the water, along with the dog lead and harness on the ground.

Ms Bulley’s partner, Paul Ansell, has said he was “100% convinced” she did not fall into the water.

He said he wanted to keep “all options open” about her disappearance but his “gut instinct” told him she was not in the river.

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