Nicola Bulley: Mom-of-two identified by dental records as body found in river a month after she went missing
INSKIP, LANCASHIRE: The body of Nicola Bulley, a mother-of-two who was reported missing for almost a month, was finally found by members of the public in the reeds of the River Wyre in Lancashire on Sunday, February 19. Her body was identified on the basis of her dental records, an inquest has heard. The place where her body was found was reportedly a mile from the bench where her mobile phone had been recovered 23 days earlier.
The case was postponed till June this year, and no family members were present during the brief four-minute hearing. No official cause of death was also provided.
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Senior coroner contacted maxillofacial surgeon
Senior coroner Dr James Adeley said he had contacted consultant maxillofacial surgeon Ian Edwards and asked him to compare dental records obtained by police from the Great Eccleston dental surgery. "I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities, and more, that positive identification has been made," he told the court, according to Daily Mail. "The family have been informed of the date, time and place of the opening of the inquest and have chosen not to attend for reasons I can quite understand."
As per multiple reports, a man and a woman found Bulley's body and informed the authorities who then arrived at the River Wyre close to Rawcliffe Road at around 11.35 am on Sunday. The 45-year-old's corpse was found on a stretch of the river just past a slight bend, which is a mile or so outside the village close to where a tree had fallen on its side half in and half out of the water, with branches and undergrowth partially submerged.
TikTok vows to take action
Social media platform TikTok has promised action against online sleuths who posted several upsetting conspiracy theories and disrupted the search. A number of videos have been circulated on the social media where many users speculated and gave their opinions of the case related to the sudden disappearance of Bulley.
"Our thoughts are with Ms Bulley's family and friends at this difficult time. We have mobilised resources to monitor the evolving conversation about this case," TikTok said in a statement. "We are taking action against violations of our Community Guidelines, including removing content and accounts, and limiting the reach of some content by making it ineligible for recommendation."
Police face backlash
Law enforcement officers have also come under the scanner for the way they handled the case, with former Home Secretary Priti Patel having now joined the criticism against the force. Lancashire Police called out social media sleuths at a press conference last week in which they disclosed additional information about the day when Bulley disappeared. Investigators said it had taken the "unusual step" to reveal this level of detail as it was "important to clarify what we meant when we talked about vulnerabilities to avoid any further speculation or misinterpretation". The general public was visibly unhappy about the disclosure of the personal details of Bulley. Even Home Secretary Suella Braverman said she was 'not satisfied' with the police's explanation of why they disclosed the private details of the now dead mother of two.