Missing UK mom’s friends reveal her daughters’ heartbreaking question

Nicola Bulley’s daughters are heartbreakingly asking their father: ‘Is mummy famous?’, the missing mother’s friends revealed today. The perplexing case of the missing mother-of-two, 45, has moved millions since she vanished while walking her dog Willow on Friday January 27 in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire. Two weeks on, her children are growing increasingly concerned and confused by their mother’s absence, and are said to have begun asking her father, Paul Ansell, about the widespread attention the case has received.

Emma White (pictured) is among Ms Bulley’s loved-ones who held a vigil in the village this morning, standing by the main road while holding her photograph and urging any witnesses to come forward. Ms Bulley’s face was also displayed on a big screen. She said: ‘The little girl is saying “Is my mummy famous?” I didn’t quite know how to answer that myself… for the wrong reasons.’ 

‘We just need Nikki home for her two beautiful little girls who need their mummy. It’s like torture. The girls, when they get home from school, ask “any news on mummy?” and Paul [Nikki’s partner] has to say “no” and he can see the little girls just deflate.’ She added: ‘Bring Nikki home, come to the sofa, with the girls, with Willow and you can have that happy story because that’s what we’re keeping hope for.’

Police say that a team of 40 detectives has so far found no evidence of third-party involvement, insisting their ‘main working hypothesis’ is that Ms Bulley drowned and have shifted their search along the River Wyre to the coast. However, there remains a ‘possibility’ that Ms Bulley left the bench where her dog and mobile phone were found via a pathway not covered by CCTV cameras. 

Ms White said: ‘We ultimately have an area out of the river where Nikki may have gone in that we have no footage for. We don’t know if Nikki wandered out or anyone has been seen. This is really crucial and that is what we’re pushing for today to raise that profile.’ Ms Bulley went missing after dropping her daughters aged six and nine at school and during a walk with her springer spaniel Willow along the River Wyre. 

Mothers taking part in the vigil were adamant their friend would not have left her daughters behind voluntarily. ‘I know Nicola and there are only two possibilities – that she was abducted for fell in the river as the police believe,’ said a mother standing in light rain on the Garstang Road. ‘There is no way that Nicola would have gone off on her own and leave her daughters behind. No one knows at the moment and that is why we are here to make people aware.’ 

Another mum who gave her name as Mel said her daughter was in the same class as one of Ms Bulley’s children. She said:’ We just want to try and make people think back to a fortnight ago and is they have any dashcam footage that might show Nicola. We are all hoping that she is found and can come home.’ Police are said to be looking for a ‘tatty’ red van that was in the area as detectives trace up to 700 vehicles and their drivers.

It came as the search shifted out to the Irish Sea after a team of expert divers abandoned their search of the River Wyre. Officers insist their ‘main working hypothesis’ is that Ms Bulley drowned, possibly after ‘an issue’ with Willow. Pictured: A lifeboat sweeps the river Wyre multiple times where it meets the estuary of Morecambe Bay, in Lancashire, two weeks on from Nicola Bulley vanishing. 

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