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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Rachael Burford

Home Secretary not ‘wholly satisfied’ with police response over release of Nicola Bulley’s details

The Home Secretary has said she is not “wholly satisfied” with the reasons Lancashire Police gave for releasing sensitive information about Nicola Bulley’s private life.

Suella Braverman last week questioned the force’s decision to tell the public about the missing mother-of-two’s struggle with alcohol and the menopause.

Asked if there would be an external review into the police’s handling of the case, Ms Braverman said on Monday: "I did have concerns earlier in the week about some of the elements relating to the release of personal information of Nicola Bulley into the public domain.

“I raised those concerns with the chief constable - I wasn’t wholly satisfied, I have to say, with some of the responses I got but it is a matter for the police themselves.

“There are some investigations ongoing, looking into how the investigation has been handled and we must let that carry out its own process.

“We must just let the investigation conclude.”

Ms Bulley vanished after dropping off her daughters, aged six and nine, at school on January 27 in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire.

The force said on Sunday that a body had been found in the river near where she disappeared, but it has not yet been formally identified.

A spokesman for Lancashire police said: “We were called today on Sunday, February 19 at 11:36am 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."

Ms Braverman added: "I want to put on record my deepest thoughts and sympathies for the family of Nicola Bulley, it must be a horrendous experience that they are going through right now.

“We need to let the police carry out and conclude their investigation."

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