Lancashire Police said on Sunday that a body has been found in the River Wyre during the search for missing mother-of-two Nicola Bulley. Bulley, 45, was last seen on the morning of Jan. 27 walking her cocker spaniel, Willow, beside the River Wyre in Lancashire, after dropping her two young daughters off at a primary school in the village of St Michael’s on Wyre. In a statement released on Sunday afternoon, Lancashire Police said: “We were called today at 11.36 a.m. to reports of a body in the River Wyre, close to Rawcliffe Road. An underwater search team and specialist officers have subsequently attended the scene, entered the water, and have sadly recovered a body. No formal identification has yet been carried out, so we are unable to say whether this is Nicola Bulley at this time. Procedures to identify the body are on-going. We are currently treating the death as unexplained. Nicola’s family have been informed of developments and our thoughts are with them at this most difficult of times. We ask that their privacy is respected.”
Home Secretary Suella Braverman described the developments as “heart-breaking and distressing,” and expressed her thoughts remain with Nicola’s family at this extremely difficult time. The investigation into her disappearance has attracted widespread speculation as well as criticism of the police response. On Feb. 15, Lancashire Police held a press conference in which they said Bulley had “specific vulnerabilities” which led them to immediately assess her as “high risk” when she was reported missing. They later issued a statement clarifying what they meant by her “vulnerabilities,” which included her struggles with alcohol due to her ongoing struggles with the menopause. This decision to reveal intimate details of the struggles Bulley was facing brought widespread criticism.
Britain’s Information Commissioner, John Edwards, asked Lancashire Police to clarify why they revealed to the public issues Nicola Bulley faced with alcohol and menopause. He recognized that police had to focus all of their energies on the investigation, but stated: “Given the high-profile nature of this case, we will be asking Lancashire Police to set out how they reached the decision to disclose this information in due course.” Former Victims’ Commissioner, Dame Vera Baird, also criticized the disclosure, calling it a “dreadful error” and claiming it was “sexist.”
However, Bulley’s family issued a statement in which they said they had been made aware beforehand that Lancashire Police was going to release those personal details. They said that due to the perimenopause Bulley suffered with significant side effects such as brain fog, restless sleep, and intense headaches. Lancashire Police have said all along that they believe Bulley “went into the river” and was not a victim of foul play, but their failure to find a body has fuelled other theories on social media. On Feb. 15, Detective Superintendent Rebecca Smith, who is leading the hunt for Bulley, said: “It’s … really obvious that we are being inundated with false information, accusations, and rumours, which is distracting us from our work.” Lancashire Police also revealed that there had been police contact with Nicola Bulley on Jan. 10 following “concern for welfare.” The Independent Office for Police Conduct has said it is assessing the information to determine whether an investigation is necessary over the contact officers had with Bulley.