Missing dog walker’s phone was still connected to work conference call

Nicola Bulley, a mother of two, had been walking the family dog in Lancashire when she vanished on Friday morning. She was last seen at around 9.15am.

The alarm was raised when a friend found the springer spaniel, called Willow, running free beside the River Wyre in the village of St Michael’s on Wyre, more than an hour later. Police then discovered the 45-year-old’s phone on a bench in the village. The conference call was still ongoing.

A large search operation has been in place since Friday, and police say they are “keeping an open mind” about what could have happened.

Paul Ansell, Ms Bulley’s partner, speaking from the family home in Inskip, Lancashire, said he had spent all of Sunday searching for her.

The engineer, who has been in a relationship with Ms Bulley for 12 years, told PA: “It is just perpetual hell. It is just utter disbelief. We are living through this but it doesn’t feel real.

“All we can say is we need to find her. She’s got two little girls that need their mummy home. We have got to get some good news now.”