Artist pays tribute to Nicola Bulley by painting giant mural in her Essex home town

Danny Bench, a local artist and friend of the family, painted the mural on Wednesday at a One Stop shop in South Woodham Ferrers in Essex.

A memorial tribute to the mum-of-two, who was sadly found dead following a three-week search operation, was also held on Thursday evening (February 23).

The gathering, which saw around 250 people attend, took place on the bandstand at Queen Elizabeth II Square in South Woodham Ferrers.

Mourners were encouraged to bring flowers which would then be moved to a memorial site.

One of the organisers, Kerry Lineham, said the community wanted to pay its respects as Ms Bulley grew up in South Essex.

“South Woodham Ferrers is a very close-knit community. When unfortunately tragic events happen everyone kind of pulls together,” she said.

“The family is well known and even though they moved up north, they still hold a massive piece of all of our hearts.

“When Nicola went missing, we all felt so helpless being down south, but we all remained beside the family.

“For support, we will do whatever we can and this is our way of coming together to show our love and respect.”

Ms Bulley’s body was found in the River Wyre on Sunday, more than three weeks after she was last seen, on 27 January.

She had been walking her dog in St Michael’s on Wyre after dropping her daughters, aged six and nine, at school.

Following the tragic news, a fundraiser was launched to support Nicola Bulley’s two young daughters.

The GoFundMe was set up by Andy Lawson, a work colleague of Nicola’s partner Paul Ansell, on Tuesday (February, 21).

Mr Lawson was hoping to raise £5,000, but as of Friday (February 24), the fundraiser had raised nearly £29,000.

The organiser, calling themselves ‘Friends of the Ansell Family’, wrote: “We are so grateful for all of the support the fundraiser has received thus far.

“Nikki was the most amazing person and has clearly impacted so many people. We are increasing the goal so that we can help the girls and Paul as much as possible.

“Thank you all again.”