The inquest investigating her death has heard that Nicola Bulley was not injured right before she entered the River Wyre but perished in “seconds” when she did.
In January, the mother-of-two is believed to have vanished near St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire, and two witnesses have each reported hearing “screams” in the area.
After an extensive week-long search, the body of Nicola was discovered a mile downstream with her phone still linked to a work Teams call on a bench beside the lake.
Security at the inquest venue, Preston County Hall, was beefed up amid fears of infiltration by conspiracy theorists – while the coroner warned anyone who disrupts proceedings would face ‘prison or a fine’.
Diving experts and doctors have explained what would have happened to Nicola when she entered the cold river water, though the inquest has yet to hear evidence on how she ended up there.
Meanwhile, the last people to see her alive described Nicola acting like ‘her normal self’ – though the inquest also heard she may have been ‘struggling’ inside.