Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Cop in murder case helped probe
A top detective who supported police investigating the case of murdered dog walker Julia James was drafted in to help solve the disappearance of Nicola Bulley.
The specialist officer was involved in the probe into the brutal death of PCSO Mrs James, who was killed on a remote footpath in Snowdown, near Canterbury, in 2021. Last week, the same detective advised beleaguered Lancashire officers investigating the disapperance and death of Mrs Bulley. Her body was found in the River Wyre on Sunday.
She was also on a dog walk when she vanished more than three weeks ago.
The Lancashire force is said to have tapped into the expertise of the National Crime Agency (NCA) detective - the UK’S equivalent of the FBI - to help find out how the 45-year-old died, The Times reported.
She was walking her springer spaniel, Willow, along the banks of the River Wyre, when she was last seen on January 27. The NCA detective is understood to have been called in at a relatively early stage to provide
advice to senior investigating officer Det Supt Rebecca Smith. He is believed to have recommended police bring in external experts, including specialists in search, family liaison and digital media to examine Mrs Bulley’s
phone and other electronic devices.
A forensic clinical psychologist and a behavioural expert were also asked to analyse both Mrs Bulley’s state of mind and the profile of a potential offender.
The NCA detective - who is part of the agency’s major crime unit - is understood to have previously advised Kent Police during their investigation into the death of Julia James, 53, who was murdered in cold blood as she walked her Jack Russell, Toby, in April 2021. Callum Wheeler was jailed for life last July and ordered to serve a minimum of 37 years in prison. The NCA detective, who has not been named, was also involved in the investigation into murderer David Fuller. The former hospital worker was convicted of murdering Wendy Knell and Caroline Pierce at their Tunbridge Wells homes in 1987, after a cold-case review two decades later. The killer, who also abused the corpses of dozens of women and girls in hospital mortuaries, was given two whole-life orders in December 2021.