Nicola Bulley's final text message revealed as search continues for missing mum
18.02.2023 - 13:57
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
Nicola Bulley's final text message, sent just minutes before she disappeared, has been revealed as the investigation into the mum's disappearance continues.
The 45-year-old disappeared after dropping off her daughters, aged six and nine, at school in St Michael's on Wyre in Lancashire on January 27, and was last seen shortly after walking her dog Willow along the banks of the River Wyre. Her phone was found less than an hour later on a bench, still logged into a Microsoft Teams work call.
Willow was found wandering "bone dry" and agitated. Nicola had disappeared without a trace – but the Mirror reports the mum-of-two had texted a friend moments before she vanished to set up a playdate.
A friend, who asked not to be named, told our sister paper: "She booked a playdate: 8.57am, she sent a text message to a friend whose mortgage she had just recently signed off on to arrange for the girls to go for tea this week. You wouldn't have done that if you were going to get up and go missing."
The information had been revealed at a meeting in the village hall on Sunday morning before residents began their first community-organised search. Meanwhile, Lancashire Police is set to conduct an internal review into their investigation of the disappearance.
Head of crime Detective Chief Superintendent Pauline Stables will head up the probe, which comes after police were fiercely criticised for "sexist" disclosures of Nicola's vulnerability as they stepped up their investigation. Officers had disclosed that the mum had struggled with alcohol after reaching menopause.
Dame Vera Baird, a former victims' commissioner, told BBC Radio 4 she felt the force had made a "dreadful error" in releasing the details, while Home Secretary Suella Braverman was