Nicola Bulley's partner said 'she's struggling' as woman recalls hearing 'inhale scream'

Tragic mum-of-two Nicola Bulley's partner said 'she's struggling' after he was told her mobile phone had been found on a bench beside a river together with her dog roaming free, an inquest into her death was told.

A dog walker also told the inquest of seeing a mystery 'man in black' as he walked towards a spot along the river where he had earlier seen Ms Bulley - and two women gave evidence of hearing a 'scream' coming from the riverside in the village of St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire.

One, nurse Heather O'Neill, who was in her garden at the time, said the scream was 'over in a couple of seconds' and likened it to two women walking along and 'one jumping out' on the other to scare her, but Veronica Claesen, the secretary of the village's tennis club who was just about to get into her car, described it as an 'inhale scream' like a sharp intake of breath.

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Witness Susan Jones, a retired careworker, told the court that at around 10am on January 27 she received a call from Penny Fletcher, who runs a campsite in the village and had discovered Willow, the dog, and Ms Bulley's mobile phone, which was still logged in to a Microsoft Teams call, on the bench.

Mrs Jones then bumped into Anne-Marie, Ms Fletcher's daughter-in-law, who recognised a photograph of Ms Bulley and her family on the phone's lock screen. She rang the local school, before speaking to Ms Bulley's partner, Paul Ansell, the inquest heard on Monday afternoon.

Ms Jones told the inquest: "Anne-Marie spoke on the phone and said that he [Mr Ansell] said 'she's struggling'."

The inquest heard Mr Ansell was at the scene in 10 minutes. Mrs Fletcher used a dog harness