Distaste towards the Lancashire police amid their investigation into the disappearance of Nicola Bulley has reached a peak, with people hitting out at their "disgraceful" press conference yesterday (February 15).
Nicola Bulley, 45, went missing on Friday, January 27, with the last sighting of her on a footpath while she was walking her dog near the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire, at around 9:10 AM, per the BBC.
She had been on a Microsoft Teams conference call - with her microphone and the camera switched off - after dropping her children off at school earlier that morning. The call had started at around 09:00 AM, and concluded roughly 30 minutes later.
Alarms were raised when a fellow dog walker in the area found Bulley's mobile phone on a bench next to the river (which was still logged on to the work call) at around 10:30 AM. The family dog was running around erratically and in a distressed mood.
Lancashire Police have since launched an intensive investigation into the unusual disappearance of the missing mother, including employing the use of forensic diving experts to scour the river near where she disappeared.
At the time, their working hypothesis was that Bulley fell into the body of water and drowned, though her family and even an expert diver on the case have disputed this theory.
Forensic diving expert Peter Faulding has vehemently rejected the police's working hypothesis, telling Talk TV (via The Daily Mail) that he was "truly baffled" by the case and doesn't believe she fell into the water - adding that if she'd drowned, her body would have been recovered by now.
"After 25 years of doing this kind of work, after hundreds of cases, I am well and truly baffled. Normally you would expect the divers to find them easily," Faulding stated, further explaining that when a person drowns they "generally go down where they are", with search teams typically finding their bodies within five to 10 meters of where they fell in. Faulding was eventually forced to call off his team's search for Bulley after they recovered nothing in the wake of her disappearance.
Earlier this week, Lancashire Police held a press conference where they hit out at the media and the public for criticizing their investigation. They also revealed that Bulley was a "high-risk" missing person due to her previous struggles with alcohol as she dealt with the onset of menopause. "Nicola had in the past suffered with some significant issues with alcohol which were brought on by her ongoing struggles with the menopause and that these struggles had resurfaced over recent months," the police's statement read.
It was during this press conference that police highlighted she had "specific vulnerabilities" and that they had attended her residence just 17 days before her disappearance to conduct a welfare check, per Express.
These statements have caused even more scrutiny regarding the case, with former detective Martyn Underhill telling Sky News that this has "destroyed" the mother-of-two's reputation.
"That is crucial, really, I'm amazed it hasn't been released before and, of course, on 3 February in their press conference they actually said there were 'no significant issues involving Nicola's health'. I can understand in some ways why they didn't release it then as it would completely destroy her reputation. It's a big move to take but if you aren't going to take it at the start of the investigation, why do it now?", he stated.
Conservative MP Alicia Kearns slammed the conference on Twitter, writing: "I am deeply uncomfortable with the police releasing Nicola Bulley's so-called 'vulnerabilities' on menopause & alcohol. I struggle to ascertain how this will assist Police in their search & investigations. I do see how it would assist those wishing to victim-blame or diminish."
"What the hell! Nicola Bulley 'struggled with some significant issues with alcohol' & had 'ongoing struggles with menopause' by Lancashire Police is disgraceful What the hell has that got to do with finding Nicola? Is she not worth finding? Is public perception meant to change?!", lawyer and activist Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu tweeted.
The search for Bulley remains active and Friday will mark three weeks since the mother of two vanished.
