TOTAL AGONY
Nicola Bulley’s family are ‘heartbroken’ after body found less than a mile from where mum-of-two vanished
THE family of missing mum Nicola Bulley are "heartbroken" after a body was found near where she vanished.
Police recovered the body from the River Wyre, less than a mile away from where Nicola disappeared on January 27.
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Sky News correspondent Inzamam Rashid said that he had spoken to Nicola's loved ones over text.
During a broadcast from the village of St Michael's on Wyre, Inzamam said: "Tonight I've been speaking to some members of the family.
"I've had broken love heart [emojis] sent to me.
"If anything is to give you a sense of how they're feeling, I think that pretty much sums it up."
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The force said they were unable to confirm whether the body was that of the 45-year-old mum-of-two but the process of formal identification is underway.
Detectives said in a statement: "We were called today at 11:36am to reports of a body in the River Wyre, close to Rawcliffe Road.
"An underwater search team and specialist officers have subsequently attended the scene, entered the water and have sadly recovered a body.
"No formal identification has yet been carried out, so we are unable to say whether this is Nicola Bulley at this time.
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"Procedures to identify the body are on-going. We are currently treating the death as unexplained.
"Nicola’s family have been informed of developments and our thoughts are with them at this most difficult of times. We ask that their privacy is respected."
The tragic discovery comes after police confirmed Nicola was being treated as a high risk missing person when she disappeared.
Cops revealed Nicola had "vulnerabilities" at the time she went missing.
These included "significant issues with alcohol" in the past that were brought on by her "ongoing struggles with the menopause".
It comes as:
- Cops found a body in the river near where Nicola went missing
- Police confirmed the death was being treated as “unexplained”
- Nicola's partner Paul Ansell spoke of his "agony" at the news
- Paul revealed how the family were coping
- Dive expert Peter Faulding broke his silence to send support to her loved ones
- Mr Faulding insisted he did not give the family “false hope”
- A pal of Nicola’s revealed the hell of keeping the missing mum’s daughters in the dark
- Heartless trolls hacked the social media of Nicola’s partner Paul Ansell
- Read more on Nicola's disappearance here
Nicola's struggles had resurfaced over recent months, police confirmed.
A statement added: "This caused some real challenges for Paul and the family.
"As a result of those issues, a response car staffed by both police and health professionals attended a report of concern for welfare at Nicola’s home address on January 10th.
"No one has been arrested in relation to this incident, but it is being investigated."
Officers have defended their decision to release the personal information after being slammed by MPs and former cops.
Home Secretary has ordered the force to explain why the details were revealed and police have now referred themselves to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.
Cops also released a statement from Nicola's family begging for the public to "focus on finding her".
It read: "The police know the truth about Nikki and now the public need to focus on finding her.
"Due to the peri menopause Nikki suffered with significant side effects such as brain fog, restless sleep and was taking HRT to help but this was giving her intense headaches which caused Nikki to stop taking the HRT thinking that may have helped her but only ended up causing this crisis."
Detective Superintendent Rebecca Smith reiterated this week that the police's "main working hypothesis" was that she fell in the river.
But she revealed two other theories for her disappearance - Nicola leaving the area voluntarily and third party involvement.
Officers had moved their search for the mum 20 miles away to the coast after believing Nicola could have been carried out to sea.
Last Friday, Nicola's partner Paul Ansell told Channel 5's Dan Walker that "something happened that day" as people don't just "vanish into thin air".
He also spoke of his torment at her disappearance two weeks after she was last seen.
On Vanished: What happened to Nicola Bulley?, Paul said: "It just doesn’t feel real. I feel like I’m in the Truman show.
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"Like, I honestly believe I’m going to wake up at any moment…how are we even in this? We are good people.”
Paul also said he feels "anger, loads of frustration, confusion, disbelief, surrealism" as the family goes through "unprecedented hell".
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