Nicola Bulley's partner in tears as he reveals horror messages he received from strangers

Paul Ansell has spoken out for the first time about the search for his partner Nicola Bulley, who went missing in January last year and was later found dead in a river

Paul Ansell, the partner of Nicola Bulley, has broken his silence, revealing the distressing messages he received from strangers and the poignant requests from their children for their mother's return.

In an emotional first interview, Paul Ansell recounted the harrowing time during the search for Nicola 18 months prior. Her disappearance at the end of January last year sparked a 23-day police operation after Paul reported her missing.

The incident attracted significant media attention and social media speculation. Tragically, Nicola's body was later discovered in the River Wyre on February 19, not far from where she had disappeared.

A forthcoming BBC documentary revisits the intense period of the search and the whirlwind of social media activity that deeply affected Nicola's loved ones. Paul reflected on how the media and online buzz initially seemed beneficial but soon felt overwhelming, likening it to "poking a monster".

During the documentary, he shared: "I was getting direct messages from people that I've never met - they don't know me, they don't know us, they don't know Nikki.", reports the Mirror.

He also expressed how the family felt constrained from replying to online comments due to concerns that their responses might be misinterpreted or shared out of context, leaving him feeling "silenced" by the ordeal.

Amidst the ongoing trauma, Paul lamented: "On top of the trauma of the nightmare that we're in, to then think that all these horrendous things are being said about me towards Nikki - everyone has a limit."

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"I was getting direct messages from people that I've never met. They don't know me, they don't know us, they don't know Nikki. They know nothing about us," he shared. "Just messages like 'you b******'. 'We know what you did'. 'You know you can't hide Paul', that kind of stuff. "There was some that I felt like replying to, but then if you reply to that, they'll just screenshot your reply, if that'll end up on social media.

And so you're literally silenced, and you can't do anything about it. "".

Paul noticed Nicola's absence on the Friday morning after she had taken their two children and family dog Willow to school. At first, he wasn't concerned, but when the school called him at 10.30am to inform him that someone had found their dog and Nicola's phone near a bench, he realised "something wasn't right here".

"I mean, that's not a normal phone call to get," he elaborates. "She would never have left Willow."

He continued: "It's where you feel like your legs have gone. In a situation like that, your mind is going absolutely crazy. And so I rang the police as I was driving."

Recounting the phone call she received from Paul while at work, Nicola's sister Louise Cunningham describes his state as "panicky and frantic". She recalls: "He was like, 'something's happened, something strange has happened'."

The search for Nicola had a devastating effect on her family, with her mother Dorothy sharing a poignant moment with one of the grandchildren. "One morning, I got up. The youngest one, she says: 'Cold, isn't it, Nanny? ' She said: 'I hope mummy's not cold and hungry'." Dorothy recounted.

Paul, Nicola's husband, tried to stay optimistic during the search to protect their children but found it challenging. "The nights were the hardest," he revealed.

"In the morning the hope would be strong. It used to go dark at like 4pm. It used to get to about 3pm and then I'd start panicking that I knew it would start going dark in an hour. So we had an hour to find her. And then obviously I'd have the girls. The first they'd do when they came out of school was run over and say 'have we found mummy? ".

Last year, a coroner concluded that Nicola's death was accidental, stating she had fallen into the river and experienced "cold water shock". They also noted there was "no evidence" of suicide.