Nicola Bulley inquest is read her last text before she fell in river

The last text Nicola Bulley sent was read out at an inquest into her death.

The 45-year-old was last seen alive taking her dog for a walk along the River Wyre on January 27. An inquest, which started on Monday, June 26, was told police believe Nicola had somehow fallen down the steep banking leading to the near-freezing water.

With the temperature as low as four degrees celcius, two of the world's leading experts on drowning concluded she would have been "rapidly incapacitated" from a phenomenon known as cold water shock. The court was told Nicola would have died within a matter of seconds.

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A number of doctors and witnesses gave evidence at yesterday's inquest and the court heard a complete timeline of Nicola's disappearance. One section of evidence concerned the last text Nicola received, and to which she replied, from her friend Lucy.

The waitress had been texting Nicola to arrange a play date between their two daughters. Nicola had texted Lucy the night before she went missing but Lucy only saw the text on the Friday morning, the court heard.

Lucy replied at 8.13am. She told the court: "I said my daughter would love to come and play." At 8.59am Nicola replied confirming a time and included a smiley face emoji. Lucy and Nicola were also due to meet up the following day.She said: “We were going to be meeting up, a group of mums, on the Saturday night for a few drinks.”

Home Office pathologist Dr Alison Armour who carried out a post mortem two days after Nicola was found, more than three weeks after she disappeared. Her body had made its way downstream around a mile and a half from where Nicola had entered the water.Dr