Nicola Bulley’s friends given new hope after ‘influx of calls’ to police a week after she went missing

Published

2 years ago

February 3, 2023

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Friends of missing woman Nicola Bulley say there’s still hope she can be found after fresh appeals at the scene led to an “influx of calls”.

Emma White told Sky News they were hoping for a “lightbulb moment” on Friday – exactly a week after she disappeared.

Friends and locals have been holding photos and placards of Ms Bulley by the roadside in the Lancashire village where she went missing.

Follow live: Lancashire police to give update on missing dog walker#s disappearance

It appears to have had an effect, with the police getting a number of new calls by lunchtime.

“I can say it has received an influx of calls to 101,” said Ms White.

“The liaison officer – Paul [Ms Bulley’s partner] has called him a short time ago – they’re looking into all the calls they’re receiving as we speak.

“The hope was diminishing today,” she told Sky News. “But after the news I’ve just heard, that torch of hope is shining again and given just a glimmer of hope that somebody knows something, has seen something.”

As the search continues and divers comb the river, Ms White said Ms Bulley’s two daughters were being kept busy with activities such as sleepovers, seeing friends and a school disco.

Paul Ansell, Ms Bulley’s partner, said this morning that he was “staying as strong as I can” and focusing on supporting “the girls”.

He said he kept playing “every scenario” in his head “around and around”, but admitted it was as if she had “vanished into thin air”.

Another friend, Heather Gibbons, said the disappearance was totally out of character and that Ms Bulley had arranged playdates for her children for the day after she went missing.

The mortgage adviser was last seen about 9.15am on 27 January on a path by the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre.

She had just dropped her two young daughters at school.

The 45-year-old’s phone was found on a bench, still connected to a work call, and her dog was running loose.

Police said on Thursday that a potential witness had been identified – but the woman reportedly told the Daily Mail she hadn’t seen anything and had already spoken to police earlier in the week.

Officers are still treating the case as a missing person investigation and say there’s no evidence of outside involvement.

Timeline of Nicola’s disappearance

Ms Bulley’s movements in the run-up to her disappearance on Friday 27 January.

8.43am – Ms Bulley walked along the path by the River Wyre, having dropped her children off at school.

8:47am – A dog-walker – somebody who knows Ms Bulley – saw her walking around the lower field with her dog. Their two dogs interacted briefly before the witness left the field via the river path.

8.53am – Ms Bulley sent an email to her boss.

9.01am – Ms Bulley logged into a work conference call on Microsoft Teams.

9.10am – A witness – someone who knows Ms Bulley – saw her on the upper field walking her dog, Willow. The dog was not in its harness and off its lead. This is the last confirmed sighting of Ms Bulley.

9.20am – Police believe Nicola’s phone was left on a bench by the river.

9.30am – The conference call ended but Ms Bulley stayed logged on.

9.33am – Ms Bulley’s mobile phone was found on the bench by another dog walker. Her dog was found running between the bench and a gate to the field. The dog’s harness was found on the grass between the bench and the river’s edge. This witness then made inquiries as to who owned the phone and spoke with people who recognised the dog as Ms Bulley’s.

10.50am – Ms Bulley’s family and the school her children attend were alerted about the situation. Lancashire Constabulary said they believe Ms Bulley fell into the river and their investigation is focusing on the 10-minute window between 9.10am and 9.20am where she is unaccounted for.

On Thursday, Ms Bulley’s sister and father told Sky News they have been “stuck in a nightmare” since her disappearance and that “her children need her home”.

Louise Cunningham told Sky News: “We’re going round and round in circles trying to piece together what could have possibly happened.

“It’s like she’s just vanished into thin air. We just want her home, we need her home, her children need her home. It’s absolutely heartbreaking.”

Her father Ernie Bulley, 73, spoke of the “pain” the “close-knit family” are feeling.

“This has just emptied our lives at the minute, we just feel so empty,” he said.

“We appreciate everything everyone is doing to find her. The police have been brilliant, the local community has been outstanding. But at the end of the day we just want her back.”

UK

Diogo Jota: Liverpool players join mourners as Premier League star and his brother Andre Silva buried in Portugal

Published

9 mins ago

July 5, 2025

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Diogo Jota: Liverpool players join mourners as Premier League star and his brother Andre Silva buried in Portugal

Liverpool players past and present have joined the family and friends of Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva for their funeral in Portugal.

A service was held in the Igreja Matriz de Gondomar church in their hometown of Gondomar near Porto in northern Portugal on Saturday morning.

Mourners lined the streets and some in the crowd clapped as the brothers’ coffins were carried into the church.

The funeral – in pictures

Jota, 28, leaves behind his wife of only 11 days, Rute Cardoso, and three young children.

His younger brother, 25, was an attacking midfielder for Penafiel in the second tier of Portuguese football.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot, captain Virgil Van Dijk and teammates including Andy Robertson, Conor Bradley, Ryan Gravenberch, Cody Gakpo, Curtis Jones, Darwin Nunez and Joe Gomez were seen at the service.

Former teammates Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Fabinho were also there.

Van Dijk carried a red wreath with Jota’s number 20, while Robertson had a wreath featuring number 30, Silva’s number at Penafiel.

Some of Jota’s teammates in the Portuguese national side also attended, including Bruno Fernandes, of Manchester United, Ruben Dias and Bernardo Silva, of Manchester City, Joao Felix and Renato Veiga, of Chelsea, Nelson Semedo, from Wolves, Joao Moutinho and Rui Patricio.

Ruben Neves was one of the pallbearers after flying in from Florida where he played for Al Hilal in the Club World Cup quarter-final on Friday night.

‘More than a friend’

In a post published on Instagram before the service, he told Jota he had been “more than a friend, we’re family, and we won’t stop being that way just because you’ve decided to sign a contract a little further away from us!”

Jota’s fellow Liverpool midfielder, Alexis Mac Allister, said on Instagram: “I can’t believe it. I’ll always remember your smiles, your anger, your intelligence, your camaraderie, and everything that made you a person. It hurts so much; we’ll miss you. Rest in peace, dear Diogo.”

Porto FC president Andre Villas-Boas and Portugal national team manager Roberto Martinez were also in attendance.

‘With us forever’

Speaking after the ceremony, Martinez said the period since their deaths had been “really, really sad days, as you can imagine, but today we showed we are a large, close family.

“Their spirit will be with us forever.”

The service was private, but the words spoken by the Bishop of Porto, Manuel Linda, were broadcast to those standing outside the church.

He told Jota’s children, who were not at the service, that he was praying for them specifically, as well as their mother and grandparents.

“There are no words, but there are feelings,” he said, adding: “We also suffer a lot and we are with you emotionally.”

The brothers died after a Lamborghini they were travelling in burst into flames following a suspected tyre blowout in the early hours of Thursday morning.

No other vehicles are said to have been involved in the incident.

Liverpool have delayed the return of their players for pre-season following Jota’s death and players past and present paid tribute to him and his brother on social media.

Flowers have been left outside Anfield, where flags have been lowered to half-mast and all club shops, museums and tours have been closed until Monday.

UK

Rachel Reeves hints at tax rises in autumn budget after welfare bill U-turn

Published

3 hours ago

July 5, 2025

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Rachel Reeves hints at tax rises in autumn budget after welfare bill U-turn

Rachel Reeves has hinted that taxes are likely to be raised this autumn after a major U-turn on the government’s controversial welfare bill.

Sir Keir Starmer’s Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill passed through the House of Commons on Tuesday after multiple concessions and threats of a major rebellion.

MPs ended up voting for only one part of the plan: a cut to universal credit (UC) sickness benefits for new claimants from £97 a week to £50 from 2026/7.

Initially aimed at saving £5.5bn, it now leaves the government with an estimated £5.5bn black hole – close to breaching Ms Reeves’s fiscal rules set out last year.

In an interview with The Guardian, the chancellor did not rule out tax rises later in the year, saying there were “costs” to watering down the welfare bill.

“I’m not going to [rule out tax rises], because it would be irresponsible for a chancellor to do that,” Ms Reeves told the outlet.

“We took the decisions last year to draw a line under unfunded commitments and economic mismanagement.

“So we’ll never have to do something like that again. But there are costs to what happened.”

Meanwhile, The Times reported that, ahead of the Commons vote on the welfare bill, Ms Reeves told cabinet ministers the decision to offer concessions would mean taxes would have to be raised.

The outlet reported that the chancellor said the tax rises would be smaller than those announced in the 2024 budget, but that she is expected to have to raise tens of billions more.

It comes after Ms Reeves said she was “totally” up to continuing as chancellor after appearing tearful at Prime Minister’s Questions.

Criticising Sir Keir for the U-turns on benefit reform during PMQs, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the chancellor looked “absolutely miserable”, and questioned whether she would remain in post until the next election.

Sir Keir did not explicitly say that she would, and Ms Badenoch interjected to say: “How awful for the chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”

In her first comments after the incident, Ms Reeves said she was having a “tough day” before adding: “People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday.

“Today’s a new day and I’m just cracking on with the job.”

Sir Keir also told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby on Thursday that he “didn’t appreciate” that Ms Reeves was crying in the Commons.

“In PMQs, it is bang, bang, bang,” he said. “That’s what it was yesterday.

“And therefore, I was probably the last to appreciate anything else going on in the chamber, and that’s just a straightforward human explanation, common sense explanation.”

UK

Diogo Jota and Andre Silva’s funeral in pictures

Published

4 hours ago

July 5, 2025

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Diogo Jota and Andre Silva's funeral in pictures

The family and friends of Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva have been joined by Liverpool stars past and present and other Portuguese players at the pair’s funeral near Porto.

The Liverpool forward, 28, and his brother died in a car crash in Spain on Thursday.

Pictures below show the funeral at the Igreja Matriz de Gondomar church in the town of Gondomar near Porto. Click here for our liveblog coverage of the day’s events.