Nicola Bulley drowned and 'would have died in less then 10 seconds' with 'one or two breaths' of water, inquest told

Mum-of-two Nicola Bulley died as a result of drowning and was alive when she entered the water in the River Wyre in Lancashire, a pathologist told the first day of an inquest into her death.

And one of two experts on drowning - described as 'leading the world in terms of expertise' - said she would have drowned in 'one or two breaths' of water.

Professor Mike Tipton, from the University of Portsmouth, said in evidence to the inquest he believed Ms Bulley had a 'gasp response under the water' and 'would have died in less than 10 seconds'.

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Dr Alison Armour, who carried out a post-mortem examination two days after Ms Bulley's body was found, was asked by the coroner, Dr James Adeley, if there was any sign she had been 'assaulted or harmed' prior to her death. The pathologist replied: "No, there was not."

An experienced police diver, meanwhile, told the inquest it was his 'belief' that if Ms Bulley did 'fall in' to the water, she was 'probably floating and being pushed along the flow'. PC Matthew Thackery, a police diver for eight years, said it was 'very difficult to get out of the water' at the spot where her body was found.

Expert witness Prof Tipton said at the temperature the River Wyre was on the day she went missing, a person would lose consciousness within around 25 seconds. "It is very rapid incapacitation," he said.

Two breaths of water, he went on, would have been a 'lethal dose' for Ms Bulley.

Prof Tipton said: "We estimate the temperature would have been around 3 to 5C, so there would be a particularly powerful cold-shock response. For somebody of Nicola's size, it would have taken one or two breaths in of water