Police made a "dreadful error" in the way personal information was released about missing mum Nicola Bully, it has been warned. Former victims’ commissioner for England and Wales Dame Vera Baird accused Lancashire Police of being "sexist" after they revealed she had been identified as "high risk" from the point she had gone missing.
The mum, who vanished on January 27 while walking her dog on a towpath on the River Wyre in Lancashire, was also said to have had issues with alcohol in the past. Police said these had resurfaced recently amid problems caused by the menopause.
Now Dame Vera has told of her concern over people making complaints in future after the information was disclosed. She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I don’t think they can think it’s relevant, can they? Because they have been subject to heavy and, in my view, totally justified criticism since they disclosed it.
“I’m sure they would have explained themselves if they had an explanation … if it was relevant it needed to be in a public domain at the start and it wasn’t. I mean, that is a really worrying error. It is frankly dreadful.”
She added: “Coming back to this information – you know, I’m worried about future people making complaints." She added: “If one of your relatives has gone missing … and may have some weaknesses, as goodness knows we all do, then would you, first of all, go to the police at all as early as you should when you will have to tell them all the intimate details to help them with their inquiry – that’s essential.
“But would you if it’s going to be on the front page of The Sun the next day or a week later? And if you do, will you tell them these details?”
She added: “A future family like this is going to face the torment of not knowing whether to run the risk of gratuitously wrecking your relative’s reputation by giving every detail away … or missing the chance of catching whoever has got them, or getting her back.
“So, I’m afraid this is the biggest error that I have seen for quite a long time. It’s going to just, you know, very sadly, to undermine trust in the police yet further.”
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Asked if it was an error that would have been made if the potential victim was a man, she said: “I do not think that it would.
“Would we have had police officers saying, you know, if it was Nicholas, he’s been unfortunately tied down with alcohol because he’s been suffering from erectile dysfunction for the last few weeks? I think not. You can hear all the senior police officers squirming as I say it, I would have thought.
“No, it is a dreadful error to put this in the public domain for absolutely nothing and I’m afraid I think it’s as sexist as it comes.”
