A private security firm has started patrolling in the village where Nicola Bulley went missing after large numbers of "TikTokers and Youtubers" descended on the area following her as-yet-unexplained disappearance.
There has been a wave of public interest in the disappearance of the 45-year-old mum who went missing while walking her dog Willow in St Michael's-on-Wyre on Friday, January 27.
Spencer Sutcliffe said his security firm was asked by members of the community in St Michael's-on-Wyre to provide "reassurance" for the locals. They say visitors have been trespassing, filming people's properties, and going through their gardens, with a lot of attention on social media has been focused on what people have deemed to be "abandoned properties" close to the river, reports Lancs Live.
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"We went there [to the house] and the owner was actually camping in his car to stop people coming on. People shouldn't have to live like this," said Spencer Sutcliffe.
"The village is under enough stress as it is, with the situation and poor Nicola, with what has happened to her, whatever has happened to her. Everyone's in limbo about that, plus we've got the added hassle of all these people coming to the area. There's an older generation that live in St Michael's, so a lot of people are not on social media.
"They're wondering who these people are, what they're doing walking around with their phones, filming the properties, going in through their gardens. It's causing a lot of stress and alarm for the residents."
Spencer and his team live locally to St Michael's-on-Wyre and will provide their services for free, walking and driving through the village and visiting any notable "hot spots". They are patrolling the area and advising people "of what to do and what not to do".
Spencer's work also goes hand-in-hand with the dispersal order which has been issued by Lancashire Police. This means that the force has been granted extra powers to order people away from the area, after people were seen filming for social media close to where Nicola disappeared.
He continued: "There's a dispersal order in the area, which runs quite far and wide, right down to Brock down the bottom end. If there's any anti-social behaviour whatsoever in that area, the police will remove them.
"We've also just been advising members of the public. We've even had people come down from Kilmarnock in Scotland, just to have a look round and take videos.
"There was young kids down on the river last night about half past 10. It's pitch black, it's really dangerous and very slippery under your foot, so we basically advise them.
"There's not much we can do on public land. We can just offer them some friendly advice, tell them of the dangers that they are facing, and hopefully they will listen."
Given the TikTokers who have been turning up in St Michael's-on-Wyre, Spencer said his company have set up their own Spencer Sutcliffe Security account on the social media platform to "speak to the TikTok community".
He said: "That's the only way we can get through to them. We've asked them not to come to the local area, let the people live in peace, let the family do what they need to do, let the police do their job, and let's all try and help the community as one."
Laura Lord is one of the admins of the village Facebook group, and was instrumental in getting Spencer and his security company to patrol the area. She said the behaviour of some people who have taken it upon themselves to investigate Nicola's disappearance has caused issues for locals.
She explained: "You don't understand it and you can't reason with it, but people are going to come and they're going to want to see the bench or the river walk, but coming under the cover of darkness and effectively causing criminal damage and making an absolute nuisance of themselves. You're detracting from the investigation as a whole.
"We as a community support everything and anything anyone has asked of us in relation to Nicola. We don't want anything to be taken away from that, but these goons are doing it."
Laura said the anti-social behaviour has involved people "appearing in people's gardens and land", but the visitors are being "kindly asked to move" by the police, Spencer and the local community.
She said that, if some people were aware of the "social media detectives", it would be worse as it would "scare them even more". Laura continued: "We don't want this. We've been left more or less to manage this situation.
"I contacted Spencer as a last resort, having had so many messages from residents voicing their concerns about various issues that have been covered. I mean, you walk around the village, on the river, the little building by the water, that's been broken into.
"There's damage around, litter, I mean they're all small points compared to obviously Nicola and Nicola's family and what they're reading, what they're seeing. It's just ludicrous.
"I know of a local elderly couple who have had people in their garden. The other night, there were 14 of them in a field having walked down the river and decided they were going to walk through the fields and investigate that way."
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