Nicola Bulley: police searching for missing woman find body in River Wyre

Officers are asking the public to respect the privacy of Ms Bulley's family

A police officer walks near to where a body, that is suspected to be missing woman Nicola Bulley, was found close to St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire. Reuters

Police in the north of England said on Sunday they had found a body near where a woman went missing last month.

Nicola Bulley, 45, was last seen walking her dog near a river in St Michael’s on Wyre in Lancashire, north-west England, on January 27, but police have yet to confirm the identity of the deceased.

Twenty-five minutes after she went missing, her mobile phone, still connected to a work Teams call, was found on a bench. Her springer spaniel was found waiting nearby.

Lancashire Police said they were called at 11.36am on Sunday to reports of a body in the River Wyre.

"An underwater search team and specialist officers have subsequently attended the scene, entered the water and have sadly recovered a body," the police said in a statement on Twitter.

"No formal identification has yet been carried out, so we are unable to say whether this is Nicola Bulley at this time,” the police said. They said the death of Ms Bulley was still being treated as “unexplained”.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman described developments in the case of Nicola Bulley as “heartbreaking and distressing”.

She tweeted: "My thoughts remain with Nicola’s family at this extremely difficult time.”

The police said that the Bulley family’s privacy must be respected following widespread speculation over the cause of her death from online “amateur sleuths” and conspiracy theorists.

Police said the online stir surrounding her disappearance had not been helpful in determining the cause of her death and had warned members of the public from attempting to “investigate” what had happened near the site where she went missing.

Police said some people visiting St Michael’s had been “interfering with the investigation and causing concern to the local community. They are a continuing distraction to the case and our efforts to trace Nicola”.

"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,” a police statement said.