Police investigating the disappearance of Nicola Bulley are being investigated whether it was necessary to release information of her health problems - including issues with alcohol. The Information Commissioner said he would be be asking Lancashire Police about the decision to disclose the missing mother-of-two’s struggles with alcohol and HRT, he said in a statement.
Ms Bulley vanished after dropping off her daughters, aged six and nine, at school on January 27 in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire in a case which has baffled the nation. This morning (Feb 17), former victims’ commissioner Dame Vera Baird said the way personal information was released about Nicola was “sexist” and a “dreadful error”.
Information Commissioner John Edwards added: “Data protection law exists to ensure people’s personal information is used properly and fairly. This includes ensuring personal details are not disclosed inappropriately.
Read more: Nicola Bulley search expert says team not given 'crucial information' by Lancashire Police
“Police can disclose information to protect the public and investigate crime. But they would need to be able to demonstrate such disclosure was necessary.
“We recognise that at this stage of an intensive, live investigation, the force must focus all their energies on the inquiry. But 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.”
On Wednesday evening, a statement on the Lancashire Police website said: “We have described how Nicola had some vulnerabilities at the time she went missing and we just wanted to expand on that a little.
"Sadly, it is clear from speaking to Paul and the family that Nicola had in the past suffered with some significant issues with alcohol which were brought on by her ongoing struggles with the menopause and that these struggles had resurfaced over recent months."
The Metropolitan Police commissioner has said it would be a “rare thing” for the force to comment about the vulnerabilities of a woman in a high-profile missing person case. Sir Mark Rowley declined to tell Nick Ferrari on LBC whether he would have told the public of Nicola Bulley’s struggles with alcohol and HRT because he did not have “all the facts to hand”.
When asked by Mr Ferrari whether the Met would have released such details about a missing Londoner, Sir Mark said: “It would be a rare thing to do. There may be a case where it is necessary to do, that is why I don’t want to be absolute, but it would be a rare thing to do.
“We need to release the information that helps find somebody and Lancashire have made that call and time will tell whether they have got it right or wrong.” He added that the Met would be ready to help the Bulley investigation, if asked.
Former victims’ commissioner Dame Vera Baird told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “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.” 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.”
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