A spiritual medium who found Nicola Bulley’s body revealed he had an emotionally-charged meeting with her loved ones not long after she was laid to rest, where he discussed ‘issues that will forever remain between me and her family.’
Jason Rothwell, 33, who helped police discover the location of the missing 45-year-old, said he had been happy to have played his part if only to give her family ‘peace of mind’, while also stopping ‘cranks cashing in on her’, after Ms Bulley’s disappearance sparked intense media coverage and online conspiracy theories.
The mother-of-two vanished seemingly without a trace on January 27 last year while walking her dog Willow along the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire, just moments after dropping her daughters off at school.
After a frenzied three-week search, which threatened to be derailed by internet sleuths, her body was found by the spiritual medium and his friend.
Mr Rothwell has described it as simultaneously the most ‘incredible but terrible’ thing he has ever done in his life, and claimed she will ‘forever be a part of my life’ after an ‘invisible person’ told him her body would turn up in the river.
Speaking in an Instagram video, the 33-year-old has revealed for the first time how he had a private moment with Ms Bulley’s family at Blackburn Spiritualist Church, the same location where he was interviewed for a recent BBC documentary reflecting on her disappearance.
He said: ‘I wanted to say thank you to Blackburn Spiritualist Church where we facilitated this recording – and it’s also the place myself and Nicola’s family and my good friend met shortly after Nicola’s funeral.
‘I cannot thank them enough for the discretion, for the kindness, for the privacy that they showed to myself and Nicola’s family…allowing us to sit together for such a long time and discuss issues that will forever remain between me and her family.’
He continued that ‘Nicola and her family are the main thing in this whole situation’ and remained conscious of the media coverage and online content that had emerged in the wake of her disappearance.
As for his role in the case, Mr Rothwell said he had a desire ‘to help the family, to give her parents peace of mind, to give her children the nudge of where their mother had gone,’ but also that he has wanted to ‘stop psychics from cashing in on what is a lady’s ending and a family’s immense pain.’
He continued: ‘I [wanted to] stop cranks, for want of a better word, cashing in on her, her life and the way her life came to an end in the physical sense.’
At the time of the intense police search, Mr Rothwell was seen in photographs at the scene and pointing to the waters where Lancashire Police eventually found the body of Ms Bulley.
In his Instagram video, Mr Rothwell divulged that the night before he had gone to Saddleworth Spiritual Church, which is close to where he is based.
He said: ‘We all sat together in a circle, there were at least 20 of us who sat together sending love…so much love, so much kindness, so much energy to help us, because these things, the finding of a missing person, is so much harder than you think.
‘It’s harder on you mentally, it’s harder legally, but also the energy required is so much more.’
He went on to say: ‘I know for myself and for [my friend] finding Nicola will forever be part of our life, it will be something incredibly difficult.’
Later in his Instagram video, the 33-year-old from Oldham said he hopes that he will meet Ms Bulley in ‘the next world’.
He said: ‘The only thing I hope is that in the fullness of time when I pass from this world and move into the next world I only hope that Nicola will be amongst those people who I meet when my own life ends and that we can greet one another and be friends with one another as she’s such a huge part of my life and she forever will be.
‘I only hope that she can appreciate that I have done everything I can to protect her memory and her family in the best way I can and she will be happy in the way in which for my part I have dealt with this situation.
‘In finding Nicola I did the most incredible thing and the most terrible thing in my life.
‘I cant explain how amazing it is to think I walked to a river one day and stood there and waited for somebody’s body to turn up based on the idea that an invisible person told me to do it and at the same time the realisation that I am about to take some family’s hope away from them by confirming their worst fears.’
He previously said at the time he discovered Ms Bulley’s body: ‘It is with great regret that I have to address this issue at this time. But due to wide number of private enquires and threads now circulating on YouTube and TikTok, I feel I should but put a brief statement.
‘As has obviously become apparent, yes it is myself in the images in the media currently circulating relating to the case of Nicola Bulley and yes yesterday morning it was myself and a friend who reported and assisted the police in the recovery of a body from the river Wyre.
‘Such as it is it would be inappropriate of me to discuss in any further detail anything we may know about that body at this time, considering a formal identification of that body has yet to be confirmed.
‘I would also like to just say a huge thank you to Lancashire police for their help, support and the open mindedness with which they dealt with us, following our call, spiritualists or mediums are obviously not something the police come across every day and I appreciate the respect given to us both.
‘It is also important to mention, I was not asked by the police or Nicola’s family to become involved in this case, but having seen the wild speculation and hurtful commentary that has been ongoing, and having previously assisted in the recovery of Michael Brooks, I decided to use what ever “gift” it is we mediums possess to try and locate Nicola Bulley. I Would however stress again, I can not confirm that body we traced yesterday is that of the lady in question.
‘My thoughts and prayers are with her family, friend and loved ones at this time and I do hope, that if it is indeed Nicola, they can find some peace with this. If it is not, I would send my prayers to the family off whomsoever it may be.
‘I would add as a final note, I will not be giving any further information or commentary at this time regarding the work involved in finding this person nor is it my place to engage in any discussion on how that body came to originally be in the water.’
Last month, Paul Ansell, Nicola’s partner, revealed the sickening messages online trolls sent him during the search for the missing mother-of-two.
Speaking during a BBC documentary he said: ‘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. Just messages like “you b******”. “We know what you did”. “You know you can’t hide Paul”, that kind of stuff.’
Discussing the impact social media had, he went on to say: ‘It wasn’t a huge part of our lives. But yeah, when you experience something like this, you realise what a huge monster it can be, I guess.’
On top of dealing with social media abuse, Paul said he had to remain strong in the search for Ms Bulley for the sake of his two daughters.
He added: ‘The nights were the hardest. 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?’
Friends of the couple were even forced to beg online trolls to stop making ‘disgusting allegations’ and ‘vile theories’ online.
Ms Bulley’s sister, Louise Cunningham, along with her parents Ernest and Dorothy Bulley and partner Paul Ansell all participated in the documentary as they reveal the impact of the public scrutiny on their lives.
Reliving the moment the family was informed about Nicola’s body being found, Louise said: ‘I’ll never forget dad coming into the kitchen. Just, like, completely breaking down and Paul being out in the garden. Just in a complete state.’