Nicola Bulley’s partner told the inquest into her death he believes she went to put a harness on her dog shortly before falling into the River Wyre, Holly Evans reports.

Ms Bulley’s mobile phone was still connected to a work Teams call when it was found on a bench overlooking the water.

Paul Ansell said: “She was still listening to that meeting, so I think she must have maybe put the phone on the bench and gone to put the harness back on Willow.”

On the day he sent her a text message saying: “Have you got lost?”

Nicola Bulley’s husband raised concerns about her alcohol use days before she went missing, a mental health clinician has said. Holly Evans reports:

Theresa Lewis Leevy informed the inquest of a visit to Ms Bulley’s address on January 10.

“The information we received was the call from the family had been made in connection with Nikki’s increase alcohol use and were concerned about this and were looking for support around this,” she said.

After arriving at 7.30pm, Ms Leevy was met by Ms Bulley’s husband, Paul Ansell and her sister Louise Cunningham, who expressed “general concerns for her welfare” and a recent increase in alcohol consumption.

Ms Bulley remained in the bedroom and appeared intoxicated and spoke of a loss in weight. When asked if she appeared depressed, Ms Leevy said: “No, not that I could ascertain at the time.”

Ms Leevy offered advice to the family around alcohol use and but assessed there were no immediate risks and that Ms Bulley was “in no immediate harm from a mental health aspect”

Here are 10 things we learned from the first day of the inquest.

Giving her closing summary, Ms Cartwright KC asked the Coroner to record a conclusion of accidental death, Holly Evans reports.

She said that what occurred to Ms Bulley on the riverbank that day had been a “tragic accident” and that she had been in “good spirits”, with text messages and work meeting to confirm that.

She added that while there had been “much rumour and speculation” about Ms Bulley’s death, the family were of the view that any speculation had been allayed by the expert opinion, and were “comforted” that her death would only have taken a matter of seconds.

Nicola Bulley’s mother said “everything was normal” the day before her daughter died, Holly Evans reports.

Dorothy Bulley, who cried while giving evidence at the inquest, said she picked up Ms Bulley’s daughters from school on January 26, and looked after them that evening.

She said: “We sorted the girls out and everything was normal.” Her husband Ernest described it as a “lovely evening” and that Nicola had been pleased with her recent work meetings and her hope of closing a new deal.

He said: “She was a great daughter, sister and mother, we couldn’t ask anymore from her.”

Reading from Mr Ansell’s statement, Sophie Cartwright KC, the lawyer representing the family, summarised that Ms Bulley was a “quiet person who enjoyed the simpler side of life” who “adored nothing more than a walk with Willow or a walk with her family in the hills”, Holly Evans reports.

Becoming emotional, Mr Ansell nodded his agreement and said: “We worked well together, I guess I gave her a bit of spontaneousness and she planned things where I needed that.”

When asked if he had any further to note about Ms Bulley’s mental state, her husband Paul Ansell, said: “Other than the blip over the Christmas period and in January she was back to herself, looking forward to the future and everything was on the up”. Holly Evans reports:

In terms of her behaviour in the week before January 27, he said: “She was doing good, she was getting back into her work, she was excited about her work and it was going really well. She’d worked so hard passing her exams, starting off on her exams and spent months last year doing an awful lot of hard work to build the business up and she was starting to see the rewards for that and generating business. She was excited with how it was looking.”

Describing it as “just a normal morning”, Mr Ansell said that Ms Bulley had a positive business meeting the previous day and had been “full of beans”. She had been due to attend two meetings later that day with an estate agents company and had been “ready for the day ahead” and that “everything was in a good place”.

Speaking of the incident on January 10, Ms Cunningham said: “She was absolutely fuming with me to call the ambulance, she thought I was overreacting and maybe I was but she’s my sister and I wanted a professional opinion.

“From then, I think that was a realisation for her as she started to get back to normal.”

Over the following days, she completed two modules for a refresher financial course and received 90 per cent in both.

Ms Bulley had also planned a spa day with her sister and they had exchanged a number of messages on January 26 and the morning she disappeared.

“I confirmed that it was booked but she never picked up the message,” she tearfully said.

Nicola Bulley’s sister told the inquest how her sibling was “very much a planner” who managed to successfully juggle work and family life, Holly Evans reports.

Becoming tearful, Ms Bulley’s sister Louise Cunningham said: “She was my big sister.

“She was very much a planner. I mean she’d started her career again, she was a busy mum juggling a career and family life. She always had things under control.”

She told the court that Ms Bulley would colour code everything in her calendar and had resat her exams to continue her career.

Describing her springer spaniel Willow as a “third child”, Ms Cunningham said: “There’s no way Nikki would leave Willow alone by choice.”

She said her sister spoke to her about having problems sleeping.

Asked if she spoke about menopausal symptoms with her, Ms Cunningham said: “She discussed having some symptoms with the HRT, it was back in the summer. She was having headaches, she couldn’t get the balance right, she mentioned having struggles sleeping. She was taking lavender spray, herbal tea, anything that would relax her before bed.”

Ms Bulley also began presenting with menopause symptoms in July 2021 and continued to present with anxiety and fatigue, Holly Evans reports.

The inquest heard she also became “emotional” during one meeting with the nurse practitioner regarding her menopause treatment.

She was also sent to A&E on January 11 due to an injury to her head after attending a walk-in centre after a fall, complaining of increased drowsiness and vomiting.

She was sent to A&E where a CT scan came back normal, the inquest heard.