Pressure is mounting for an independent inquiry into Lancashire Police’s handling of Nicola Bulley’s disappearance after it emerged the force focused their search on a stretch of river five miles away from where her body was later found.
It was a sighting by a pair of dogwalkers on Sunday afternoon that led to the 45-year-old’s missing mother’s body being recovered from the River Wyre 23 days after she vanished.
Former DCI Martyn Underhill, who served nine years as a police commissioner, said Lancashire Police has serious questions to answer about its media strategy and search of the river – and ‘nothing less’ than an independent review would suffice.
He told The Times: ‘These are crucial issues that go to public confidence. I may well be totally wrong and Lancashire might be completely vindicated.
‘But I have never known a force to be so reluctant to seek external help — the Met and other forces all offered. The home secretary must get to the bottom of it.’
Home Secretary Suella Braverman yesterday said she is not ‘wholly satisfied’ with the force’s explanations for revealing Ms Bulley’s alcohol dependency and menopausal issues last Wednesday, after personally grilling Chief Constable Chris Rowley.
The Information Commissioner’s Office is assessing whether the force was right to reveal the personal information, while the Independent Office for Police Conduct are probing Lancashire Police’s contact with Ms Bulley in another incident before she went missing.
Ms Braverman and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are said to be awaiting the outcome of those two investigations before deciding on an independent inquiry, The Sun reports.
Ms Braverman said: ‘I did have concerns earlier in the week about some of the elements relating to the release of personal information into the public domain.
‘I raised those concerns with the chief constable – I wasn’t wholly satisfied, I have to say, with some of the responses I got.
‘There are some investigations ongoing. We must wait for them to conclude.’
A former Scotland Yard detective has also slammed the already under-fire police force responsible for the search for Nicola Bulley. Peter Bleksley piled the pressure on Lancashire Police, who today confirmed that the 45-year-old mother-of-two’s body was found in the River Wyre on Sunday.
The former policeman said despite the force’s use of experts and a nationally-recognised search doctrine, they were not the ones to find Ms Bulley.
He told Sky News: ‘The bottom line is Lancashire Police and all their experts and all their doctrines did not find Nicola.
‘Two people walking along a river bank did.
Former Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley slammed Lancashire Police for their search for Nicola Bulley, 45
Mother-of-two Ms Bulley (pictured) was discovered on Sunday morning in the River Wyre in Lancashire, more than three weeks on from when she disappeared
During a press conference today police did not revealed why it took 23 days to find her body in the river
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said she is not ‘wholly satisfied’ with the explanation from Lancashire Police’s Chief Constable Chris Rowley about the disclosure of Miss Bulley’s personal information
‘Leading experts in their field helped with the search in terms of tide and river movements.
‘River movements can be complex but [Detective Superintendent Rebecca Smith] also went on to say that a nationally-recognised searching doctrine had been followed.’
He added that police were vague in their statements to the press and the public from the start of the search for Ms Bulley.
Mr Bleksley said: ‘Right from the very off the first two press conferences were led by uniformed superintendent Sally Riley who at one point asked people to stop speculating.
‘Then in an answer to a question did exactly that and speculated herself.
‘She also made a factual mistake in that in that she told the public that the NCA had reviewed the investigation.
‘That was not true, as we later found out at the subsequent and catastrophic press conference on Wednesday last week when DSI Rebecca Smith said that the National Crime Agency had provided tactical and strategic advice.
‘My criticism has been about the messaging — the information, how it has been imparted to the media.’
Mr Bleksley said a press conference (pictured) with Detective Superintendent Rebecca Smith was ‘catastrophic’
Assistant Chief Constable Peter Lawson of Lancashire Police after speaking at a press conference outside Lancashire Police Headquarters in Hutton near Preston
While he acknowledged the police had to deal with social media sleuths flocking to the scene, he said he hoped the force would be open to learning from what he said went wrong.
He said: ‘Some of the conspiracy theories and the nonsense that has been spouted on social media has been hurtful and utterly ridiculous.
‘I hope the police will be open honest transparent, tell themselves and us the public where they went wrong and improve.’
Ms Bulley was discovered on Sunday morning in the River Wyre in Lancashire, more than three weeks on from when she disappeared.
She had been walking her dog in St Michael’s on Wyre after dropping her daughters, aged six and nine, at school on January 27.
Police have not revealed why it took 23 days to find her body in the river.
Speaking at the force’s HQ, Assistant Chief Constable Peter Lawson said the body had been identified as Ms Bulley and described the investigation as ‘hugely complex and highly emotional’.
He did not take questions from the media.
In a statement, Ms Bulley’s family said she was ‘the centre of our world’ adding they would ‘never be able to comprehend what Nikki had gone through in her last moments and that will never leave us’.
Detective chief superintendent Pauline Stables (left) and Assistant Chief Constable Peter Lawson (right) hold a police news conference in Preston on February 20
The moment a dog walker points out to a spot in the River Wyre, Lancashire, as police arrive on the scene
Yellow ribbons and daffodils adorn the bench where the phone of missing Nicola Bulley was found, on the banks of the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre
A body was found less than a mile from where Nikki was last seen more than three weeks ago
Assistant Chief Constable Peter Lawson said: ‘Sadly, we are now able to confirm that yesterday we recovered Nicola Bulley from the River Wyre.
‘Nicola’s family have been informed and are of course devastated. Our thoughts are with them at this time as well as with all her loved ones and the wider community.
‘We recognise the huge impact that Nicola’s disappearance has had on her family and friends, but also on the people of St Michael’s.
Nicola Bulley, 45, and her partner Paul Ansell. The mother-of-two’s body was found on Sunday
Nicola Bulley close to where she was last seen with her springer spaniel dog Willow
The 45-year-old mortgage adviser Nicola Bulley (pictured) vanished during a dog walk in St Michael’s on Wyre
The sun sets yesterday evening over the bench near St.Michael on Wyre, Lancashire, where Nicola Bulley’s phone was found after her disappearance
‘We would like to thank all of those who have helped during what has been a hugely complex and highly emotional investigation.
‘Today’s development is not the outcome any of us would have wanted, but we hope that it can at least start to provide some answers for Nicola’s loved ones, who remain foremost in our thoughts.’
After Lancashire Police confirmed Ms Bulley’s body had been found, the force’s head of crime Detective Chief Superintendent Pauline Stables read a tribute from the mother-of-two’s family.
The statement read: ‘Our family liaison officers have had to confirm our worst fears today.
‘We will never be able to comprehend what Nikki had gone through in her last moments and that will never leave us.
‘We will never forget Nikki, how could we, she was the centre of our world, she was the one who made our lives so special and nothing will cast a shadow over that.
‘Our girls will get the support they need from the people who love them the most.’
Paying further tribute to Ms Bulley at the end of their statement, the family added: ‘To those who genuinely helped and supported us, privately, we thank you.
‘The community support in St Michael’s, friends, neighbours and strangers has been nothing short of comforting and heart-warming. Friends you know who you are. Thank you.
‘Our hearts truly break for others who have missing loved ones. Keep that hope alive.
‘Finally, Nikki, you are no longer a missing person, you have been found, we can let you rest now.
‘We love you, always have and always will, we’ll take it from here.’
