Lancashire Police has faced a furious backlash after revealing Nicola Bulley suffered from “significant issues with alcohol” in the past, which resurfaced in the months before the mother-of-two went missing.
Ms Bulley vanished after dropping off her daughters, aged six and nine, at school on 27 January 27 in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire. She was last seen at 9.10am taking her usual route with her dog alongside the River Wyre.
In a widely-criticised press conference on Wednesday, senior officers said the missing dog walker was “vulnerable” and classed by police as a “high-risk” after her partner Paul Ansell reported her disappearance.
Hours later, in an update condemned by MPs and campaign groups, Lancashire Police disclosed the mother-of-two had issues with alcohol “brought on by her ongoing struggles with the menopause”.
The force has since been accused of victim blaming, with privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch saying: “It’s not at all clear how the police are justifying this disclosure, which seems to be aimed at shoring up public support for Lancashire Police’s own forgone conclusions.
“The ramifications of this invasion of medical privacy could be really serious, including for Nicola’s safety.”
In the statement, police also revealed police officers were called to a report of a concern for welfare at Ms Bulley’s home on 10 January.
Read Lancashire Police’s statement in full below:
Nicola’s family continue to be our absolute focus and our thoughts remain with them. We have specially trained officers who continue to support them and update them daily.
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. This caused some real challenges for Paul and the family.
As a result of those issues, a response car staffed by both police and health professionals attended a report of concern for welfare at Nicola’s home address on January 10th. No one has been arrested in relation to this incident, but it is being investigated.
It is an unusual step for us to take to go into this level of detail about someone’s private life, but we felt it was important to clarify what we meant when we talked about vulnerabilities to avoid any further speculation or misinterpretation.
We have explained to Nicola’s family why we have released this further information and we would ask that their privacy is respected at this difficult time.
