The detective leading the search for Nicola Bulley—who has been missing for 20 days after vanishing while walking her dog beside a river in the north of England—has said “false information, accusations, and rumours” from the public have “distracted” the police.
Bulley, 45, was last seen on the morning of Jan. 27 as she walked her cocker spaniel, Willow, beside the River Wyre in Lancashire.
She had just dropped her two young daughters off at a primary school in the village of St Michael’s on Wyre.
Lancashire Police originally said they were working on the assumption Bulley had “gone in the river” but police divers and a specialist team led by Peter Faulding, a forensic search specialist, have scoured the riverbed and failed to find her body.
Detective Superintendent Rebecca Smith, who is leading the investigation, told a press conference on Wednesday that falling in the river was one of three main hypotheses the police had explored. She said the other two were foul play and the possibility Bulley had voluntarily left the area, leaving her dog behind.
The Assistant Chief Constable of Lancashire Police, Peter Lawson, told the same press conference there was still no evidence of “a criminal aspect or third party involvement” in Bulley’s disappearance.
News bulletins and newspapers in Britain have been dominated by the disappearance of the part-time mortgage adviser and the case has attracted enormous speculation from armchair detectives on social media.
Smith said: “We’re really, really grateful to members of the public for ringing into the inquiry. We wouldn’t have got this far without everybody’s help.”
She added: “But I think it’s also really obvious that we are being inundated with false information, accusations, and rumours, which is distracting us from our work.”
Smith said: “The whole community wants to find Nicola and wants to give the family the answers that they deserve. The family are the most important part of this and all the speculation and rumour is affecting them. They’ve got a loving daughter, sister, partner, and mother who is missing and that is my priority and the priority of the investigation team, and ... we can’t be distracted from that.”
Earlier this week Ansell told Channel 5 his “gut instinct” was that she had not fallen in the river and said, “Nikki would never give up on us ever. She wouldn’t give up on anybody. And we’re not going to ever give up on her, we’re going to find her.”
Asked about Ansell, Smith said: “It’s normal in any missing person investigation that you obviously gather as much information at an early stage about the person in question, which is no different and we did that with Paul.”‘TikTokers Playing Private Detectives’
Smith referred to “TikTokers playing private detectives” and claimed to have found Bulley’s glove on the riverbank.She said: “A glove has been recovered. That is not believed to be relevant to the investigation. It is not Nicola’s, but we have got that in our possession.”
Later she was asked by a journalist if “wannabe detectives“ had been hindering detectives and she replied: “Yes, it has significantly distracted the investigation. In 29 years’ police service I’ve never seen anything like it. Some of it’s been quite shocking and really hurtful to the family.”
‘Persistent Myths’ on Social Media
Smith said there had been a number of “persistent myths” about the case circulating on social media, including references to an empty house on the other side of the River Wyre from where Bulley went missing.She said: “The derelict house which is across the other side of the river has been searched three times, with the permission of the owner, and Nicola is not in there.”
Smith and Lawson also revealed for the first time Bulley had some “individual vulnerabilities” which had led the police to assess her as a “high risk” missing person on the day she went missing.
Lancashire Police later added a statement, clarifying the “vulnerabilities” Bulley faced. They said: “Sadly, it is clear from speaking to Paul and the family that 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. This caused some real challenges for Paul and the family.”
They added: “As a result of those issues, a response car staffed by both police and health professionals attended a report of concern for welfare at Nicola’s home address on January 10. No one has been arrested in relation to this incident, but it is being investigated.”
Smith went into great detail about the work police have done to check CCTV footage from the area.
She then said: “I have told you that my working hypothesis is, at the moment, through all the information that we have gathered, that the likelihood is that Nicola has unfortunately gone in the river.”
But she said: “However, I have to stress this because this has been continually misconstrued, I cannot be 100 percent certain of that at the minute because we are continuing, it’s a live investigation, and there is always information coming in.”
“But we are in the 20th day, we have had a thorough, dedicated, meticulous investigation and there is not one single piece of information that’s come to note that would suggest that Nicola has left those fields,” Smith added.
