Former police chief Sir Peter Fahy has spoken out in defense of Lancashire Police’s investigation into the disappearance of Nicola Bulley. He described the investigators as “very diligent” and said criticism of their work has been “unfair”.
The 45-year-old mother went missing in January during a riverside dog walk after dropping her two daughters off at school in St Michael’s on Wyre. Police said they believed she had gone into the river and that her disappearance was not suspicious.
However, the force faced a backlash after saying that Ms Bulley had been struggling with the menopause and alcohol before her disappearance. Her family said they knew beforehand that police were revealing the details.
Sir Peter said that while there is an issue with providing personal information in investigations, Lancashire Police had “closed off a lot of possibilities through their work on mobile phone and the CCTV”. He added that a measure of whether a missing person’s investigation has been carried out professionally is not necessarily finding the person, as this is often not possible.
The former chief at Greater Manchester Police also criticised comments by some journalists about the dress and hairstyle of Det Supt Rebecca Smith, the lead detective in the case, at a police press conference on Wednesday. He said this had “created huge anger” and female chief constables had come out to condemn it as “unfair”.
Politicians – including the prime minister and home secretary – and privacy campaigners raised concerns about the police’s release of private details in the public domain. Lancashire Police said it would conduct an internal review into their investigation, led by its head of crime Det Ch Supt Pauline Stables.
Sir Peter urged for a more balanced view of the situation, saying: “It’s disappointing that certain politicians have not perhaps tried to give this a more balanced view and say, yes there is a particular issue about providing personal information and that often happens in major investigations.” He added that media speculation about Ms Bulley’s private life was “incredibly hurtful”.
The search for Nicola Bulley has drawn widespread interest since her disappearance in January. Sir Peter’s comments come as a reminder that police are doing their best to investigate her case and that criticism of their efforts is unjustified.