Every day without Nicola is a struggle
Father tells of three weeks of agony as fury grows over release of missing woman’s private information
THE distraught father of Nicola Bulley yesterday told how ‘every day is a struggle’ – three weeks after she vanished.
He told of his pain over the disappearance of his 45-yearold daughter as Rishi Sunak said he was ‘concerned that private information was put into the public domain’.
The UK prime minister welcomed the announcement by Lancashire Constabulary that it would review its decision to reveal that the mother-of-two had alcohol and menopause problems. He told broadcasters his thoughts were ‘with Nicola’s friends and family and the focus must now be on continuing to try and find her’.
Ms Bulley’s father Ernie told Sky News that ‘every day is a struggle’ and that the family was ‘no further on from three weeks ago’.
The 73-year-old added that they ‘just need a breakthrough to give us some hope’.
Pressure on Lancashire Constabulary has intensified over its ‘astounding’ decision to make Ms Bulley’s personal struggles public. The move was yesterday branded ‘as sexist as it comes’ by former victims’ commissioner for England and Wales Vera Baird, who asked whether such personal information would have been disclosed about a missing man.
UK information commissioner John Edwards said he would be asking the force why it disclosed the mortgage adviser’s health struggles, saying the move could have been illegal without a ‘really clear and demonstrable need’.
British Labour Party leader Keir Starmer said he felt ‘very uncomfortable’ about her ‘private information being put in the public domain’.
After a torrent of criticism which culminated in UK home secretary Suella Braverman demanding an explanation, Lancashire Constabulary last night revealed that its most senior detective would conduct an internal review.
The under-fire force continued to resist calls from retired detectives to ask an outside force to examine its handling of the case.
Britain’s most senior police officer said it would be a ‘rare thing’ for his force to comment about the vulnerabilities of a woman in a high-profile missing person case.
Scotland Yard chief Mark Rowley also told LBC his Metropolitan Police would be ready to help the Bulley investigation.
Ms Bulley’s family continue to hold out hope that she will come home alive despite no sightings of her since she vanished while walking her dog Willow on January 27. They continue to reject the ‘main working hypothesis’ of detectives which is that Ms Bulley fell into the River Wyre.
Police say there is ‘no evidence whatsoever’ to suggest she had been the victim of foul play.
Amid concerns that senior officers went too far by detailing Ms Bulley’s ‘significant issues with alcohol’ brought on by her struggle with the menopause, UK Home Office ministers are said to be ‘closely monitoring’ the situation.
On Thursday the force referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct after it emerged that officers attended Ms Bulley’s house 17 days before her disappearance over an unspecified ‘concern for welfare’.
Yesterday, Ms Baird said making Ms Bulley’s difficulties public ‘for absolutely nothing’ was a ‘dreadful error’. She said: ‘It is frankly dreadful. I’m worried about future people making complaints.’
Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme whether the force would have taken the same step with a missing man, she replied: ‘I do not think that it would.
‘Would we have had police officers saying... he’s been unfortunately tied down with alcohol because he’s been suffering from erectile dysfunction?’
Emma Cunningham, senior lecturer in criminology at the Univer-investigation sity of East London, said: ‘Women’s relationship with the police is already in a worrying state, so putting issues about Nicola’s bodily integrity in the public domain is a big cause for concern.
‘If this is the way they handle a missing person’s inquiry, how are they dealing with women they come across in other crime scenarios such as rape, sexual assault and domestic violence?’
Lancashire Constabulary said an internal review into the entire had been ‘diarised’.
But former detective inspector Martyn Underhill, who conducted a review of the investigation into the murder of Milly Dowler, said an outside force should look at it, accusing Lancashire Constabulary of having ‘lost their way, especially in terms of a media strategy’.
Lancashire Constabulary said the National Crime Agency has reviewed its investigation and did not identify any lines of inquiry its officers have missed.
Wyre council leader Michael Vincent said that the force had ‘done its best in difficult circumstances’. He also told Sky News they had released personal information ‘because other people were seeking to make that information public’.
Ms Bulley was last seen walking her dog by the river in St Michael’s on Wyre after dropping her daughters – aged six and nine – at school. Detectives are seeking evidence she left the area on foot, while the mouth of the river and Morecambe Bay continue to be searched.
Ms Bulley’s sister Louise Cunnningham, 41, shared a new message yesterday, writing: ‘Three weeks today without you home. We all miss you so much, time to come home now.’
‘Just need a breakthrough’ ‘No evidence of foul play’