Found Deceased UK - Nicola Bulley Last Seen Walking Dog Near River - St Michaels on Wyre (Lancashire) #14

[Cluella DeVille]

I don’t see it that way and I don’t share the outrage about sharing “personal information” in this context either.

This could be my own bias with my own drinking problem, which I freely acknowledge. But the fact is that serious alcohol abuse introduces a level of chaos and odd behaviour in people’s lives that may not be there otherwise, and may not make sense to everyone else, especially those of us at a distance from it all.

It seems like this information was going to be leaked so the police disclosed it. What it means is that Nicola probably sometimes didn’t act like an entirely sober and clear-thinking woman of her age might do in a particular situation. Of course, the drinking could have nothing to do with her disappearance at all, but it might well be relevant and that is fair to acknowledge.

I applaud your honesty with your own struggles. It is very unclear whether NB's issues with alcohol were of a serious nature or whether she over indulged at times and got a bit lairy, whether socially, reacting to stress levels or just in drowning her sorrows? Me...two or three and I'm on the floor, never could tolerate any kind of excess. Whether the welfare attendance for the domestic issue on 10th January was a one off or the final straw we don't know. It may or may not have contributed to her disappearance but it seems a completely irrelevant tactic in the search for her and to actually locating her whereabouts? Because their main theory seems based on this being a contribution to where she is has not borne any fruit to date

 

[Terryb808]

of course but we the public don't need to know any of that tbh,
police said
NB 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

Sometimes those close to a person just don’t see or understand just how badly things are affecting them.
If she kept this under wraps (just how badly she was feeling) and then it got too much.
The partner will alway come under suspicion, it’s the police way. Looking at what evidence is in the public domain the window of opportunity for foul play to be involved is too tight.
As far as I can see there’s nothing to say she didn’t leave the area where her phone was found, leave her dog running free and go towards the weir.
Witnesses would have been asked if they saw a dog walker, they’re not necessarily going to recall a women on her own.
Just my opinion.

 

[Jaybrum23]

She was out of work for 9 years prior to 2022 when she got her current role as mortgage advisor. Quite a stretch to be unemployed but there's many variables that could attribute to her being out of work for so long

 

[ayrshireguy]

Having slept on yesterday's news about Nicola's alleged struggles with alcohol, I'm troubled by it. I understand that problems related to alcohol are often kept secret, but I wonder if the police interviewed other family members about her struggles? Have they confirmed it? Just because the police recently made a concern for welfare call at her home, isn't in and of itself, proof of a problem with alcohol.

Another reason I'm left feeling uncomfortable, if it has been proved that she did indeed have problems with alcohol, now the police have released this information, how will it affect her mental state...assuming she is still alive? I dread to think the harm this could do. JMO

It is very likely on her medical records and confirmed by a doctor.

 

[JennieM]

She was out of work for 9 years prior to 2022 when she got her current role as mortgage advisor. Quite a stretch to be unemployed but there's many variables that could attribute to her being out of work for so long

When you are a mum and raising children, that can often be the case. Nothing unusual.

 

[JennieM]

She was out of work for 9 years prior to 2022 when she got her current role as mortgage advisor. Quite a stretch to be unemployed but there's many variables that could attribute to her being out of work for so long

How do you have this information?

 

[Interested_But_Confused]

100% agree. It's quite common to see an indication in missing person announcements that the person is vulnerable. If this had been said at the start rather than the fit, healthy, happy, narrative, maybe we wouldn't have had the feeding frenzy of speculation, accusations and plain fantasy (not that any scenario should be ruled out at this point). I think yesterdays announcement was partly an exercise in damage limitation but imo the speculation has been unleashed now and has just switched focus.

Exactly. There's a chasm of difference between saying, "Fit, healthy woman with a loving partner and two young daughters, who didn't have a care or enemy in the world, mysteriously vanishes during daily walk with beloved dog," and honestly saying, "Vulnerable woman with numerous health problems has gone missing as she walked along a river."

We didn't need all the details of NB's problems, just some idea that she had them.

 

[Jaybrum23]

How do you have this information?

LinkedIn, its all public

 

[JennieM]

LinkedIn, its all public

Thanks

 

[Rusty Braincells]

Absolute nonsense from an ex-police officer in my opinion. The appetite for “news” when there is none is palpable. This police officer knows nothing about NB and any issue with alcohol doesn’t go to her character IMO as mentioned above.

Nicola Bulley's reputation 'destroyed' by police, says ex-detective

I can’t see how it’s any better for the family to have an assumption made that NB was abducted and murdered by a stranger (or deliberately killed by anyone else at all) than she accidentally drowned. The “kinder” answer would in fact be an accident. Just my opinion.

 

[ayrshireguy]

How do you have this information?

LinkedIn profile CV

 

[ayrshireguy]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1625934789856436225

 

[Cluella DeVille]

I have no idea. And I don’t care. I just know that there’s absolutely no reason why any of us here need to or should know about her returning alcohol issues, struggles with menopause (OMG!) , home welfare check etc. It’s not helpful, Definitely say she’s “in a vulnerable state” if you have to, but the rest of it is nobody’s business.

It's second hand embarrassment that a woman's struggle with menopause has been identified and hung out to dry. The undertones of this 'unstable female'. Unbelievable

 

[Justice4all9]

That too is a troubling factor, leaving Willow vulnerable does not add up. I don't doubt she shared an unconditional love with that dog

I am not suggesting this is the case, but there is the possibility she got very inebriated very quickly at the bench and then stopped caring/blacked out, leaving her unable to 'care' so much about leaving the dog.

 

[MrsWatson]

Releasing the information about NB's vulnerabilities is a real Catch-22 for police.

If they had said from the outset she was vulnerable, they would have been inundated with what those vulnerabilities were . The first question everyone would have had is "What are those vulnerabilities? We need to know to know where to look!" Just saying there were vulnerabilities would never satisfy the curiosity of a certain segment of the public's belief that they should know everything police know during an investigation.

By releasing the information now, including the specific vulnerabilities, they are now being questioned on the advisability of doing that and the veracity of the statement. I highly doubt police just took her partner's word for it. They're the police, it's their job to fact check. No matter what happened during the Jan incident, it was something serious enough to warrant a police call out and it will have been documented and taken into consideration when police assessed her level of risk.

In the meantime, they have people showing up in this small village, crawling all over the place, others throwing out all sorts of unsavory insinuations about Nicola herself, her partner, the woman who found the dog, fishermen who were somehow suspicious for going to place known for fishing, a tatty red van that is suspicious because it's tatty? red? a van? And police have to deal with all that, all the while knowing she had these specific issues going on that made her vulnerable yet wanting to protect her privacy.

I understand why they released the information now. I'd rather hear it from the official police source vs the tabloids or from some "expert" who is not privy to all aspects of the investigation and has demonstrated zero discretion. Or the other one who has been a journalist longer than he was a police officer.

All MOO

 

[Teabag57]

She was out of work for 9 years prior to 2022 when she got her current role as mortgage advisor. Quite a stretch to be unemployed but there's many variables that could attribute to her being out of work for so long

To me, that just says she was at home with her young children, and it fits around their ages. Nothing unusual about it at all. I did exactly the same.

 

[Agatha3]

Some people put on a brave face when losing their job as they are trying to work through their options before sharing it with loved ones, I've had to do this before.

And the new mortgage deal may not have been copper-bottomed. But as you say people in turmoil can put in a brave face, even be gregarious to cover true feelings.

 

[Ched]

Once again regarding the dog & her state of mind.
If it is a suicide I don’t think people are grasping what your mind is doing .
A friend of mine only last year, whose “dog is his baby” to use the term that some people like to use, drove him & has dog to one of his walking sites where you park right on the road that is the entrance to a quarry site so many many lorries turning in to it each day.
He ended his life along the footpath of the hill walk with the dog running free (in a place where if the dog had headed back to the car could have easily been hit by a lorry) .
IMO your mind is not functioning in the same way as people discussing it.

 

[JennieM]

Nicola Bulley: MPs criticise police over release of personal details​

Labour’s Stella Creasy among those questioning why Lancashire police told public of ‘issues with alcohol’

MPs and campaigners have criticised the police for releasing personal details about the missing woman Nicola Bulley’s issues with alcohol and the menopause, with one describing it as “deeply troubling”.

Nicola Bulley: MPs criticise police over release of personal details

Labour’s Stella Creasy among those questioning why Lancashire police told public of ‘issues with alcohol’

www.theguardian.com

 

[Interested_But_Confused]

If they had said from the outset she was vulnerable, they would have been inundated with what those vulnerabilities were . The first question everyone would have had is "What are those vulnerabilities? We need to know to know where to look!" Just saying there were vulnerabilities would never satisfy the curiosity of a certain segment of the public's belief that they should know everything police know during an investigation.

I see your point, but if they'd been more honest from the start I think it's unlikely there would have been so much interest in the first place. <modsnip>