Body of a boy who was thrown into brook found two months later in Wyre

Body of boy, 16, who was thrown from a motorbike into brook which flows into the Wyre – 45 years to the day before Nicola Bulley vanished – was found two months later close to mouth of river in eerily similar case

• Roger Jones, 16, was on a friend’s motorbike when they lost control on a bridge
• He was thrown into Barton Brook, which eventually flows into the River Wyre
• His body was less than a mile upstream of the area Ms Bulley disappeared 

The body of a teenager thrown from a motorbike and off a bridge – upstream from where Nicola Bulley was last seen – was found two months later close to the mouth of the river, his family revealed.

After a search of the River Wyre around Ms Bulley’s Lancashire village drew a blank, intense speculation has focused on whether the mother of two’s body could have been swept out to sea.

Peter Faulding, the underwater forensics expert brought in by the family in a bid to solve the mystery, has said it would be ‘impossible’ for a drowning victim to be washed miles downstream from where she was last seen given the slow state of the river.

But in the latest twist to what he has described as the ‘most baffling’ case he has worked on in his 25-year career, a family has come forward to describe how that is exactly what happened to their loved one – almost half a century ago.

Roger Jones, 16, was a pillion passenger on a friend’s motorbike when the rider lost control on a narrow bridge.

The 16-year-old was thrown into Barton Brook, which flows into the River Wyre less than a mile upstream of the bench where Ms Bulley’s spaniel Willow and mobile phone were found

Roger Jones, 16, was a pillion passenger on a friend’s motorbike when the rider lost control on a narrow bridge on or around January 27, 1978

The tragic accident happened outside the village of Woodplumpton, near Preston, on or around January 27, 1978 – 45 years to the day before Ms Bulley vanished.

Roger was thrown into Barton Brook, which eventually flows into the River Wyre less than a mile upstream of the bench where Ms Bulley’s spaniel Willow and mobile phone were found almost two weeks ago.

Tragically the rider was knocked unconscious, so emergency crews didn’t realise he’d had a passenger.

It was not until 3am that rescuers went looking for Roger, finding only one of his gloves on the banking.

Despite a huge search involving police divers and dog handlers, no trace of the schoolboy was found until his body washed up on a sandbank at low tide.

It had floated around seven miles downstream from St Michael’s-on-Wyre, where Ms Bulley was last seen.

While streams leading into the river system were in flood that night after heavy rain on the fells of the Forest of Bowland, his family believe the tragedy could help explain Ms Bulley’s fate.

‘It’s been playing on our minds ever since Nicola went missing,’ Roger’s brother Donald told Mail Plus.

After a search of the River Wyre around Ms Bulley’s Lancashire village drew a blank, speculation focused on whether the mother of two’s body could have been swept out to sea

‘The water levels would have been higher that night, but if Roger was carried away like that, maybe that’s what happened to her too.

‘He would have been washed past the bench where her dog was found, over the weir and out towards the sea.’

Roger, who attended Fulwood High School, had been hoping to go to Myerscough College to study agriculture to follow his dream of becoming a farmer.

The brook next to where his glove was found feeds a tributary of the River Brock, which then joins the River Wyre just before the village of St Michael’s.

The bridge is about four miles upstream from the bench where Ms Bulley’s pet was found.

Roger’s family kept searching after police drew a blank, but eventually came to the conclusion he had been swept away.

The brook next to where his glove was found feeds a tributary of the River Brock, which then joins the River Wyre just before the village of St Michael’s

It was not until March that police told them a body had been found on a sandbank downstream close to Shard Bridge – halfway along the Wyre between the village of St Michael’s and Morecambe Bay.

Mr Jones – then 23 – and his other brother had to go to the local police station and identify it as Roger’s.

‘It was an awful time,’ the 67-year-old said yesterday.

‘Nicola’s disappearance has brought it all back for us as there are so many similarities – the location, the date, the support from the public and the mystery over exactly what happened.

‘I’m just hoping and praying for them, they must be going through a total nightmare.’ After a spell working for a local newspaper, Mr Jones went on to have a successful career in television production.

Now retired, he lives near Lancaster.

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