Nicola Bulley search experts predicted exact weekend she would be discovered
A group of search experts predicted the exact weekend Nicola Bulley would be discovered, a new report has revealed.
An inquiry by the College of Policing published today said that a number of professionals in search and rescue were invited to assist the investigation's latter stages. An expert from the Association of Lowland Search and Rescue advised police on the dates when a body would most like float to the water surface.
They suggested the "earliest flotation date would be 14 February, with the most likely date being 20 February". The report said: "From the tidal information and the predictions by experts, it was anticipated that the weekend of 18-19 February might become significant in the search to find Nicola.
The review was commissioned by Police and Crime Commissioner, Andrew Snowden, to provide an external perspective on the investigation and associated activity in the search for Nicola (Mirror Online)"Resources and tactics were planned for a large-scale search on the afternoon of 19 February, as the tide ebbed. Sunday 19 February was also the first high tide since Nicola’s disappearance, with 20 cubic metres of water per second moving over the weir. This predicted tidal movement would likely contribute to a floating body on the surface, moving with the tide."
Sadly Nicola's body was in fact discovered a mile downstream from where she was last seen on Sunday February 19. Her body was found by a man who was walking the riverbank at the time and reported his discovery to police.
Nicola Bulley's children 'cried their eyes out' after being told 'mummy's lost'
Lancashire Police swooped on the area cordoning off a large section of road to protect the area from social media sleuths filming or photographing the scene. But the report acknowledged that one man was able to infiltrate the cordon and was arrested by cops after trying to post the discovery of Nicola to his YouTube channel.
It said: "The challenges of searching in water prevented Nicola from being rapidly located and recovered. When Nicola was finally recovered, she had been caught by underwater branches of a tree while being transported back out by the recorded ebbing tide.
"There were no reeds in that section of the river, as was later suggested on social media. In support of the police effort to recover Nicola’s body, the search team worked to a forensic recovery strategy.
"To provide the necessary protection to the area from the public, officers were deployed to the scene to prevent any public intrusion into the area. Despite this deployment, a member of the public was able to breach the restricted area, ignoring the direction of the police present. This action resulted in an extreme invasion of privacy, in what was the most sensitive aspect of the investigation, and resulted in the arrest of the individual involved."
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