Found Deceased UK - Nicola Bulley Last Seen Walking Dog Near River - St Michaels on Wyre (Lancashire), Jan 2023 #18

[Nancy Drew 21]

I see. It's complicated isn't it?

I would say that the police have more legal standing to release that information than the brother in law (or husband or any other family member). The rights are personal (unless there is a POA in place).

The problem is that the information which is special category personal data (health related) wasn't released at the start of the investigation when Nicola first went missing. It wasn't given out as a reason why Nicola was vulnerable. The information was released nearly 3 weeks later after the police were receiving a lot of criticism about their handling of the case. Arguably, how did releasing that personal information on the day it was released assist in the investigation as it was at that time? Also there is the wording to consider and the level of confidential health data that was revealed at that time.

The Information Commissioner's Office have released a statement saying they have asked Lancs Police to explain and justify why they thought it was relevant and appropriate to release the detailed personal data they did and their decision process behind this. Depending on the outcome of this report, the ICO will decide whether they believe that Lancs Police have acted in accordance with UK Data Protection Law.

 

[Nikynoo]

The problem is that the information which is special category personal data (health related) wasn't released at the start of the investigation when Nicola first went missing. It wasn't given out as a reason why Nicola was vulnerable. The information was released nearly 3 weeks later after the police were receiving a lot of criticism about their handling of the case. Arguably, how did releasing that personal information on the day it was released assist in the investigation as it was at that time? Also there is the wording to consider and the level of confidential health data that was revealed at that time.

The Information Commissioner's Office have released a statement saying they have asked Lancs Police to explain and justify why they thought it was relevant and appropriate to release the detailed personal data they did and their decision process behind this. Depending on the outcome of this report, the ICO will decide whether they believe that Lancs Police have acted in accordance with UK Data Protection Law.

Thank you. I will add the link to the ICO site.https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/media-centre/news-and-blogs/2023/02/statement-lancashire-police/

I would suspect that the legal team supporting the police would have considered whether the release would either fit an exemption or fall under the common law provisions. I also suspect that they will point to the imminent release of the information via the media (with supporting evidence) and disclosed the information to 'protect the family of NB'.

 

[Nancy Drew 21]

Thank you. I will add the link to the ICO site.https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/media-centre/news-and-blogs/2023/02/statement-lancashire-police/

I would suspect that the legal team supporting the police would have considered whether the release would either fit an exemption or fall under the common law provisions. I also suspect that they will point to the imminent release of the information via the media (with supporting evidence) and disclosed the information to 'protect the family of NB'.

Just my own thoughts here, but alot of the horrific social media speculation about family members could have been shut down much earlier with a few well worded statements from Lancs Police MOO, JMO.

 

[shadwell]

Just my own thoughts here, but alot of the horrific social media speculation about family members could have been shut down much earlier with a few well worded statements from Lancs Police MOO, JMO.

Just the four magic words would have done it pretty much instantly (IMO): “unexplained, but not suspicious.”

 

[Justice_4_Holly]

As I remember things, law enforcement was being criticized for being so single minded concerning their theory she drowned and felt the need to explain what they were basing that theory on. They tried to explain it as clearly as possible without giving out exact details of the prior incident at the home and how much the alcohol and hormonal problems entered into the picture. They also could have suspected she was possibly suicidal which wasn't mentioned. Before they divulged this information I was of the opinion they were being too single minded but did change my opinion after their admission. JMO

Yeah. No one would ever accuse me of being pro cop, but the police department in this case experienced non-stop harassment. If there is any blame to be laid about her police record becoming public, it’s the fault of the press, and folks like PF who decided to cash in by questioning the investigation.

The fact that even I had come to the realisation that she could not have left the field means that it should have been quite clear to skilled professionals for hire on TV. But no, they chose to relentlessly question the investigation and the river search.

 

[Nikynoo]

Just my own thoughts here, but alot of the horrific social media speculation about family members could have been shut down much earlier with a few well worded statements from Lancs Police MOO, JMO.

I can see your point, BUT if the media had released stories (and it would have been a theme) as to the concern for welfare visit and drinking habits, would the social media vileness have been any less?

 

[Quietey]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed> ... didn't the person that found NB had a dog with them?

 

[Agatha3]

Just my own thoughts here, but alot of the horrific social media speculation about family members could have been shut down much earlier with a few well worded statements from Lancs Police MOO, JMO.

Some was outright libellous. When this was pointed out to a few tweeters who were told they could be sued, some said they didn’t care as they were “fighting for justice” and “daring to print what the MSM won’t” and they said it couldn’t be libellous as it was true!
Yes a shot across the bows by police might have helped.

 

[Agatha3]

Just my own thoughts here, but alot of the horrific social media speculation about family members could have been shut down much earlier with a few well worded statements from Lancs Police MOO, JMO.

Some was outright libellous. When this was pointed out to a few tweeters who were told they could be sued, some said they didn’t care as they were “fighting for justice” and “daring to print what the MSM won’t” and they said it couldn’t be libellous as it was true!
Yes a shot across the bows by police might have helped.

I can see your point, BUT if the media had released stories (and it would have been a theme) as to the concern for welfare visit and drinking habits, would the social media vileness have been any less?

Well, even the social media vileness was NOT about Nicola but others in her wider circle. So yes I think they would have carried on with their fantasies.

 

[Wishingwell]

PF. Here we go again…..

Nicola Bulley expert diver 'baffled' over detail of where body was found

Yesterday, Lancashire Police confirmed a body was found in the river in St Michael's near where Nicola Bulleywent missing on January 27 belonged to the mortgage adviser

www.mirror.co.uk

 

[Seattle1]

Just to be clear, reeds are aquatic plants that live/grow on the water's edge.

Reed | Definition, Types, & Facts

reed, in botany, any of several species of large aquatic grasses, especially the four species constituting the genus Phragmites of the grass family (Poaceae). The common, or water, reed (Phragmites australis) occurs along the margins of lakes, fens, marshes, and streams from the Arctic to the...

www.britannica.com

 

[Agatha3]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed> ... didn't the person that found NB had a dog with them?

Yes. Mystic Mutt.

 

[Dave Figgley]

I don't understand why the police were ever searching the estuary below Shard Bridge. There was a flurry of activity there soon after the guy from SGI declared 'she's 100% not in the river' - around the 10th Feb from memory.

I'm sure the sleuths on here are familiar with the incident from 27th Jan 1978 when a young lad was catapulted into the River Calder due to a head-on collision between the motorcycle he was riding as pillion and an oncoming car. The River Calder meets the River Wyre just over two miles upstream from The NB Bench. All press reports are innaccurate regarding the location of this collision but then they all crib each other's flawed articles, don't they?

Going on the father's description of what happened that night, and with ten minutes of sleuthing, it appears this unfortunate incident occured on Garstang Road where it crosses the Calder close to Catterall Village Hall. The motorcycle was likely travelling south, maybe drifting in towards the centre of the road, with the car going northwards and drifting outwards on this fairly tight bend over the bridge. The bike rider was seriously injured and couldn't convey the fact that he had had a passenger. The sixteen year-old was reported missing in the early hours of the 28th and police recovered a glove from a bank of the Calder when they searched there.

Why is any of this relevent to my first sentence?

The body of this lad was finally found on a sand bank near Shard Bridge in late March 1978 - two months after being flung into the River Calder. He had travelled approximately 10 miles in that time - an average of 300 yards per day. He had been over the two weirs on the Wyre below the confluence of Calder and Wyre: the old mill weir and the tidal weir 300 yards downstream of The Bench. I'm not an expert on tidal vs river flows in the Wyre estuary but an average 300 yards per day suggests a high aggregate downstream flow which could be used as a benchmark.

So, by the 10th Feb and assuming these high aggregate flow conditions in the Wyre estuary, someone falling into the river, in the area of The Bench, on 27th Jan 2023 could feasibly have travelled 14 x 300 yards ie 4200 yards. That is approximately 2.4 miles.

The mouth of the Wyre is approximately 10 miles from The Bench. So why did the police bother searching there?

 

[once upon a time]

IMO the sonar man scanning the area around the bench with his fish finder then telling everyone there was nothing there may have degraded the importance of searching the obvious area. Then immediately after the next big tide, which came over the Weir, the body was dislodged, washed over the weir on the falling tide and deposited as found.

It's all quite predictable. The key was not searching the area around the bench thoroughly enough IMO in the first days.

 

[Jubbababy]

IMO the sonar man scanning the area around the bench with his fish finder then telling everyone there was nothing there may have degraded the importance of searching the obvious area. Then immediately after the next big tide, which came over the Weir, the body was dislodged, washed over the weir on the falling tide and deposited as found.

It's all quite predictable. The key was not searching the area around the bench thoroughly enough IMO in the first days.

They took their eyes off the ball IMO

 

[Agatha3]

I don't understand why the police were ever searching the estuary below Shard Bridge. There was a flurry of activity there soon after the guy from SGI declared 'she's 100% not in the river' - around the 10th Feb from memory.

I'm sure the sleuths on here are familiar with the incident from 27th Jan 1978 when a young lad was catapulted into the River Calder due to a head-on collision between the motorcycle he was riding as pillion and an oncoming car. The River Calder meets the River Wyre just over two miles upstream from The NB Bench. All press reports are innaccurate regarding the location of this collision but then they all crib each other's flawed articles, don't they?

Going on the father's description of what happened that night, and with ten minutes of sleuthing, it appears this unfortunate incident occured on Garstang Road where it crosses the Calder close to Catterall Village Hall. The motorcycle was likely travelling south, maybe drifting in towards the centre of the road, with the car going northwards and drifting outwards on this fairly tight bend over the bridge. The bike rider was seriously injured and couldn't convey the fact that he had had a passenger. The sixteen year-old was reported missing in the early hours of the 28th and police recovered a glove from a bank of the Calder when they searched there.

Why is any of this relevent to my first sentence?

The body of this lad was finally found on a sand bank near Shard Bridge in late March 1978 - two months after being flung into the River Calder. He had travelled approximately 10 miles in that time - an average of 300 yards per day. He had been over the two weirs on the Wyre below the confluence of Calder and Wyre: the old mill weir and the tidal weir 300 yards downstream of The Bench. I'm not an expert on tidal vs river flows in the Wyre estuary but an average 300 yards per day suggests a high aggregate downstream flow which could be used as a benchmark.

So, by the 10th Feb and assuming these high aggregate flow conditions in the Wyre estuary, someone falling into the river, in the area of The Bench, on 27th Jan 2023 could feasibly have travelled 14 x 300 yards ie 4200 yards. That is approximately 2.4 miles.

The mouth of the Wyre is approximately 10 miles from The Bench. So why did the police bother searching there?

Was that when there were forensic people at Skipool in a car park, a search which amounted to nothing? I thought was a tip off about a suspicious looking car. I just remember looking up map from Skippool to Shard bridge. Your description of the motorbike accident very moving.

 

[Dave Figgley]

IMO the sonar man scanning the area around the bench with his fish finder then telling everyone there was nothing there may have degraded the importance of searching the obvious area. Then immediately after the next big tide, which came over the Weir, the body was dislodged, washed over the weir on the falling tide and deposited as found.

It's all quite predictable. The key was not searching the area around the bench thoroughly enough IMO in the first days.

Did the tide ride the weir? That would be fairly unusual. You need to show your working.

 

[x44]

Just my own thoughts here, but alot of the horrific social media speculation about family members could have been shut down much earlier with a few well worded statements from Lancs Police MOO, JMO.

Just the four magic words would have done it pretty much instantly (IMO): “unexplained, but not suspicious.”

Hang on.....
That's pretty well what they DID say.
They said they believed there was no 3rd party involved. So in blunt terms they said they believed she had committed suicide into the river or that she had fallen in accidentally.
They kept on saying they were focussing on the river

Did any of this stop the speculation and the demands that the Police search here there and everywhere, thereby of course taking resources away from the river?
Nope

Sadly what might happen if the ICO castigate the police is that in future we will get no info at all about any missing person - vulnerable or not. All of which would follow the usual matra of hard cases end up making bad laws.

 

[once upon a time]

Did the tide ride the weir? That would be fairly unusual. You need to show your working.

Gaugemap for a gauge further UP the Wyre.

I think it does breach the stone Weir during big tides. IMO this was an above prediction spring tide.

GaugeMap – Latest River, Flow and Groundwater Levels Map for Britain & Ireland

River, Flow and Groundwater level updates from over 3,000 Environment Agency stations.

www.gaugemap.co.uk

ETA it may have been a release of water from further up the river somewhere. IMO it was the tide. Whatever it was there was a very rapid rise of 2ft on that gauge not long before the body was found.

 

[once upon a time]

Actually looking at the graphs more closely the peak was at St Michaels later than Garstang so the water must have come down from somewhere upstream.

Not was I was expecting to see! Maybe my IMO was wrong then. That's why it is IMO.

Anyway the effect is the same. A lot of extra water dislodges body drops it over the Weir and leaves it in the tree as the level recedes.