Force says ‘individual vulnerabilities’ put Bulley, 45, in highest category since start of investigation into her disappearance
www.theguardian.com
The reason why the police have released the information about her vulnerabilities is to try and stem the conspiracy theories and the theories of the armchair detectives.
In a statement on Wednesday evening, police expanded this to explain they had attended her home a week before she went missing after a report of “concern for welfare”.
In an “unusual step”, they said, they chose to reveal that Bulley’s partner, Paul Ansell, had disclosed that she suffered from issues with alcohol.
“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.
“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.”
The senior investigating officer on the case, Det Supt Becky Smith, criticised the social media speculation, saying it had “significantly distracted the police”, adding: “TikTokers have been playing their own private detectives. In 29 years police service, I have never seen anything like it.
“Some of it’s been quite shocking, and really hurtful to the family.”
She said there were some “persistent myths that keep being referred to in the press”, including one linked to an abandoned house, which police have searched three times, a red van, which is not a significant part of the investigation, and a glove, which has been ruled out as not belonging to Bulley.
Smith added: “We’re really, really grateful to members of the public for ringing in to the inquiry, we wouldn’t have gotten this far without everybody’s help. But I think it’s also really obvious that we are being inundated with false information, accusations and rumours, which is distracting us from our work.”