I'm the psychic who found Nicola Bulley's body and comforted her family after funeral

Jason Rothwell, 33, from Oldham, found the missing mum’s body on February 19 after an "invisible person" told him her body would turn up in the River Wyre that day.

The 45-year-old had been missing for three weeks but detectives, police divers and specialist search teams were unable to find her, fuelling conspiracy theories on social media about Nicola’s whereabouts and fate.

Jason appeared on the BBC documentary ‘Finding Nicola’ last week but says his five hour interview was cut down to just 30 seconds. He has since elaborated on his involvement in the tragic case in a video on Instagram, claiming a ‘spirit’ guided him to Nicola’s body.

He also revealed how he met Nicola’s grieving family at Blackburn Spiritualist Church after her funeral, where "private issues were discussed".

Mr Rothwell 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."

Internet sleuths threatened to derail the frenzied three-week search, which ended when Mr Rothwell and a friend found Nicola’s body around half-a-mile downstream from the bench were her phone was found.

He said: "I cannot thank them Blackburn Spiritualist Church 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.

“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," Mr Rothwell added.

In the Instagram video, Mr Rothwell also thanked Lancashire Police for keeping an ‘open-mind’ about how he came to find Nicola’s body, as he walked along the River Wyre with a friend that day.

He said: “I thanked Lancashire Police at the time and I thank them again for their open-minded nature when they took on board my own part in this story and tragedy.

At the time of the frenzied police search, Mr Rothwell was seen in photographs at the scene and pointing to the stretch of river where police divers recovered Nicola’s body.

The Lancashire coroner concluded at an inquest in June 2023 that her death was due to accidental drowning.