Nicola Bulley's harrowing last text sent to friend before mum vanished near river
Nicola Bulley, 45, vanished on January 27 while taking her usual dog walk along the River Wyre in St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire.
An inquest has heard the last text that Nicola Bulley sent before she went missing while walking her dog along the River Wyre on January 27. The mum-of-two was last seen walking her family dog Willow after dropping her two daughters off at school. Her disappearance sparked a desperate manhunt which captured the attention of the nation.
Police and emergency services searched for the missing 45-year-old for weeks before her body was tragically found in the river.
The inquest into her death opened yesterday, and heard from experts, police officers and a Home Office pathologist who revealed how the mum died.
The court heard a complete timeline of the final hours before Ms Bulley vanished.
One section of evidence focused on the last text she received, and sent, from and to her friend Lucy.
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An inquest into the mum's death reopened on Monday with the hearing Ms Bulley died from drowning and was alive when she entered the water.
Here is everything we know so far about the tragic incident.
The waitress had been texting Nicola to arrange a playdate between their two daughters.
Nicola had texted Lucy the night before she went missing but Lucy only saw the text on the Friday morning, the court heard.
Lucy replied at 8.13am. She told the court: "I said my daughter would love to come and play." At 8.59am Nicola replied confirming a time and included a smiley face emoji. Lucy and Nicola were also due to meet up the following day.
She said: "We were going to be meeting up, a group of mums, on the Saturday night for a few drinks."
Home Office pathologist Alison Armour, who carried out the post-mortem examination on Ms Bulley, said the evidence of water in her lungs and stomach led her to conclude the cause of death was drowning.
The coroner asked Ms Armour to sum up her findings and conclusion.
She said: "I conclude the cause of death as drowning. The lungs themselves showed classical features we see in drownings.
"In my opinion Nicola Bulley was alive when she entered the water."
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Ms Armour said the presence of water in the lungs showed swallowing the liquid was an "active process" and therefore suggests Ms Bulley was alive at the time she went into the river.
There were no brain bleeds or natural diseases and only normal therapeutic levels of medication in Ms Bulley's body, she added.
A low level of alcohol was consistent with the natural process of decomposition, the inquest heard.
Professor Michael Tipton, a world expert in drowning, said he agreed with the pathologist's findings.