Diver in Nicola Bulley search caused ‘false alarm’ to family, report says

According to a review into the investigation of the disappearance of Nicola Bulley, a professional diver created unnecessary worry and raised a false alarm for her family, which resulted in resources being redirected away from the search.

Peter Faulding provided conflicting information to the media, which caused public misunderstanding during the search for Bulley. This was revealed by an independent investigation into Lancashire police's actions during the disappearance of the woman in January.

A recent examination requested by Andrew Snowden, the police and crime commissioner for Lancashire, revealed that the authorities failed to manage the public's perception effectively and allowed "external entities" to have a more significant say in the investigation of the 45-year-old loan officer.

Even though the inquiry was conducted with a lot of professionalism, the analysis also discovered that it was not necessary to disclose Bulley's private health problems. This disclosure could have been avoided.

Many people took notice of Bulley's situation shortly after her disappearance on January 27th near River Wyre in rural Lancashire. Police units from various areas and organizations such as the National Crime Agency and the Environment Agency conducted an extensive search. Eventually, her remains were found almost a month later on February 19th about a mile downstream from where she was last spotted.

The police department in Lancashire faced widespread backlash, even from the country's leader, because they disclosed to the public that Bulley dealt with alcohol addiction caused by the menopause. This disclosure was an attempt to clarify their approach to the investigation in light of excessive rumors from the public regarding the case.

It could have been prevented if the police collaborated with the press. According to the report, not sharing this information with the media or providing sufficient details created room for baseless assumptions.

On Tuesday morning, a report consisting of 143 pages was made public. The report consists of 17 recommendations and calls out top officers in Lancashire Police for their poor judgment and lack of focus. It also highlights the errors they made and the force's culture. The report claims that the senior officers did not take any action despite observing the issues and did not provide enough support to the junior members.

The report stated that Faulding and his business, Specialist Group International (SGI), had a big influence on the police investigation and how the public perceived them, as per the police force's statement.

The report from the commissioner mostly supported these assertions. He stated that his behavior made things harder for the team assigned to investigate and search for the subject. He also noted that his public statements often contradicted or conflicted with the methods being used in the investigation and this caused confusion for the public. Additionally, the family's confidence in the search operation was diminished.

The blog post stated that certain individuals on social media used his remarks as proof for their different theories about the cause of Nicola's vanishing.

The report mentioned many instances of such remarks, specifically from the GB News site. Faulding was quoted as saying "I don't think she's in the river at all," and "If Nicola had gone in near that bench, she would have sunk to the bottom and drifted a few meters." These statements did not align with what the Lancashire police were saying at the time and were demonstrated to be erroneous after her corpse was found.

A thorough investigation of her passing earlier this year has concluded that Bulley inadvertently drowned and possibly lost her life shortly after entering the water. However, despite this conclusion, there is an excessive amount of conjecture on the internet regarding the incident. Numerous social media users choose not to accept the official account of what occurred.

The police were hesitant to allow Faulding to participate, according to the investigation. They also accused him of violating an agreement not to disclose information (NDA) by speaking with the media about the situation. However, the diver argued that he had never agreed to such an agreement or committed to staying silent about the case.

Faulding emphasized the importance of confidentiality and assured that they would never violate a non-disclosure agreement or reveal any sensitive information that is confidential or marked for protection. They were instructed to exercise discretion and maintain secrecy regarding operational details.

I didn't receive any details on how things were going behind the scenes and I never shared any important location information. If someone had asked me to stop sharing updates with the public, I would have stopped right away. However, nobody ever made that request.

He said, "The police's inability to manage the media led to a scenario where I was inundated with requests for information."

The report stated that Lancashire police were worried about Mr. Faulding's conduct towards the family during an extremely challenging period. They found that he was using his discussions with the family to provide quotes to the media. Additionally, they believed that he convinced the family that Nicola did not drown in the river and that someone else was involved. This behavior was deemed insensitive by the police force.

Even though there were problems with communication, the report stated that the police did a very good job investigating Nicola's disappearance. They recognized that her case was very important and used more resources than usual to try to locate her.

The report was well-received by the Lancashire police. Deputy chief constable Sacha Hatchett expressed that the case had gained significant attention, bringing attention to how they handle policing and the Bulley family.

The request for media attention was sometimes too much to handle, and in looking back, there were definitely decision we'd change if we had the chance. We've actually begun making those changes already.

The family of Bulley expressed their ongoing sorrow over her passing and declined to give any feedback on the report.