Nicola Bulley's police decision to reveal 'highly sensitive' information sparked mass outrage in move labeled 'sexist as it comes'

Police who handled Nicola Bulley's disappearance sparked mass outrage and were branded 'sexist as they come' after revealing sensitive information about her.

The 45 year old mother of two disappeared in St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashireon January 27, 2023, after dropping her daughters off at school.

5

5

During the search, police sparked outrage when they revealed what the mother was struggling with alcohol and the perimenopause.

Nicola's body was found in the river on February 19, three weeks after her disappeared.

The mother of two had to be identified through her dental records after the sad discovery was made.

An inquest was heard at Preston's County Hall in June of the same year Home office pathologist Dr Alison Armour, who carried out a post-mortem on Nicola, who gave her cause of death as drowning.

Lancashire PoliceThe handling of the case was the subject of a 143-page report.

The review, led by the College of Policing, criticized the force for “insufficient focus” and errors in judgment.

'AVOIDABLE & UNNECESSARY'

In its seventeen recommendations, the report stated that the disclosure of personal information about Nicola's life was “avoidable and unnecessary”.

The review said they should have instead released non-reportable background information to accredited journalists.

At the time, Dame Vera Baird, the former Victims Commissioner, criticized the decision to release personal information about Nicola as “as sexist as it gets”.

'HORRIBLE'

She added that the decision to make medical information about Nicola public was 'terrible' and said it was 'the biggest mistake I have seen in a long time'.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said at the time that he was “concerned about private information ending up in the public domain.”

Nicola's disappearance gripped the nation after it emerged that her mobile phone had been found on a riverside bench, still connected to a work conference.

Her pet springer spaniel willow was also discovered – but there was no trace of the mother.

As the case gripped the nation, amateur sleuths descended on the village looking for clues in an attempt to solve the case.

An inquest in the summer ruled on Nicola's death it was an accident after she fell into the water and suffered “cold water shock”.

The verdict put an end to speculation surrounding the mysterious disappearance of the mortgage adviser.

The report found that the initial investigation was handled well, but that officers lost control of the public narrative early on.

'INFORMATION VACUUM'

This “information vacuum” was caused by senior officers' failure to brief accredited reporters due to a breach of trust, which in turn led to uncontrolled speculation, it added.

The report said: “The investigation team had background information about Nicola that was not publicly available.

'The way this information was ultimately communicated to the public proved to be the most controversial aspect of the investigation.

“The inability to inform the mainstream media of this information on a non-reportable basis, or to adequately fill the information vacuum, allowed speculation to continue unchecked.

“This led to an extraordinary increase in media and public interest in the case, fueled by several newsworthy elements.

“These included the apparent mystery of why Nicola had disappeared, leaving her dog behind and her mobile phone still connected to one Microsoft Call teams.”

Dr. Iain Raphael, who led the review, said it was “vital” that this broken relationship between the media and police was rebuilt.

He said that without this “speculation could continue unchecked and result in an extraordinary explosion of media and public interest in the case.”

Dr. Raphael also noted that police “need to recognize the impact social media has now”.

Deputy Chief Constable Sacha Hatchett of Lancashire Police said at the time: 'That demand from the media has been overwhelming at times, and in retrospect there are undoubtedly things we would do differently in the future. We have even started doing that. .

“There is no doubt that the impact of social media, as experienced in this case, is a concern for policing generally and will require greater attention in the future.

“It had a damaging effect on the family, the investigation and our staff, as well as affecting wider media reporting.”

5

5

5