A former police chief has said the criticism of police’s search for Nicola Bulley is unfair.
MPs have hit out at Lancashire constabulary after it made public the missing mother had been struggling with the menopause and alcohol before her disappearance on 27 January.
In the past week the prime minister and home secretary have intervened over the decision, and investigations have been announced by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) and the information commissioner, and an internal review by the force itself.
But Peter Fahy, a former chief constable of Greater Manchester police, said the criticism had been overblown and that the flurry of public interest meant officers were like “very highly skilled surgeons” asked to “operate with a huge public gallery”.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Lancashire police have been very diligent in tracing lots of witnesses, eyewitnesses, mobile phone data, huge use of CCTV. That itself has closed off many potential theories about what has happened to this poor woman.
“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 there was “a huge feeling in policing that the way that Lancashire police has been focused on has got to the stage of being unfair”.
The prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has said he is “concerned that private information was put into the public domain” about the missing woman.
It came after the home secretary, Suella Braverman, demanded an “explanation” from police over the decision to reveal the private information. A number of MPs have joined the criticism of police.
Bulley, a mortgage adviser, disappeared after dropping her two daughters at school in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire.
Since she vanished, huge public and media interest has resulted in what police described as “false information, accusations and rumours” and an “unprecedented” search of the River Wyre.
At a press conference on Wednesday, police revealed Bulley had “individual vulnerabilities” that put her in the highest risk category, meaning there was a risk of her coming to serious harm.
Later that day the force issued details about Bulley’s struggles with the menopause and alcohol, saying they wanted “to avoid any further speculation”.
Fahy said there was a wider public interest question about an investigation such as this being carried out with such a high level of press and social media coverage.
“The police need the help of the public in providing information and the public need to know if something serious has happened in their community,” he said. “But when it gets to the stage where every single detail is pored over it’s a bit like a very highly skilled surgeon being asked to carry out an operation with a huge public gallery and people going over every single action.”
Lancashire constabulary said it would conduct an internal review into their investigation, led by its head of crime, DCS Pauline Stables.
Speaking about the press conference on Wednesday, Fahy criticised media coverage focusing on the dress and hairstyle of Det Supt Rebecca Smith, the lead detective in the case, saying it had “created huge anger”.
“A number of female chief constables came out yesterday absolutely to condemn that and say how unfair it was,” he said.
Zoe Billingham, a former head of a police watchdog, told Sky News she was “really disturbed” by coverage that focused on what Smith was wearing and what her hair looked like.
“We’ve talked a lot about misogyny and sexism [in recent days] but one of the things that’s really disturbed me over the last day or two is the abuse frankly that the senior investigating officer has herself been exposed to,” she said.
Lancashire constabulary’s release of sensitive information about Bulley was itself criticised as being “as sexist as it comes” on Friday.
The former victims’ commissioner Dame Vera Baird condemned the force’s “dreadful” decision to divulge medical information about Bulley, saying it was “the biggest error that I have seen for quite a long time”.
