Are we allowed to talk about Peter Faulding?

[Sep200024]

I just can’t understand what he was thinking??

On the one hand, very kindly donating his time and expertise.

On the other hand, he turned this case into a circus.

His categorical declarations sent people wild with speculation. It’s awful, and I just can’t understand why he did it.

Or, if not check the reeds, at least not claim definitively that she wasn't in the river

@Neverknowinglyunderbold You didn’t understand me before you started calling me a “gaslighter”. I wasn’t “getting outraged about this sad fact that not all women are equal”, I understand what that poster was saying and at no point did I say the essential point wasn’t true. I, along with others, found the dismissive tone nasty at this time because responding to this story with “What’s all the fuss about, I don’t get it” without acknowledgement of it being a tragedy regardless seemed unnecessarily blunt. I’ve worked for years among some of the poorest most sidelined in our society as a mental health clinician and I see first hand the disparity in our society every day so you can fuck off with your “we can never achieve progress when people like you gaslight and deny reality”.

I'm not one who defends the police much and I don't think their comms have been top-notch in this case but good grief, the unholy alliance of Peter Faulding and the media has been massively unhelpful. He's treated the entire thing like a book promo tour and the media have been all too willing to give him a platform for it. And still are - I see he's STILL doing the media rounds begging for sympathy? What an absolute grifter.

He’s still all over news etc. Absolutely no shame!

You’d think he’d be crippled with embarrassment!

Was it the police or Nicola's family who approached him for help?

He volunteer himself publicly, and then the family took him up on that offer. Not the police.

Thank you, Sep.

Gosh he really cannot stop talking can he?!

@MySugarBabyLove 👏🏻👏🏻

It's pretty common for adult men and women who go missing - children no for obvious reasons. Often someone who is "missing" to their family isn't to the police. Not everyone wants to be found.

This made me think of The Missing People Choir from BGT , all those people , some who had been missing for decades .

I have just watched an interview on Facebook on GB news. He actually defended the police and said all the trolls need to stop. It's not fair on her family. It's not even been confirmed it's her yet. But the trolls are sure they know someone killed her and put there recently.

Someone said they seen a man with a child the night before with heavy bag's. Dumping something in the river. So they just stood and watched did they? Not even confronting them. If they were suspicious why didn't they contact the police? No I'll just leave it then report it on social media.

People make lies up on social media believe it or not. They like to feel important and part of the drama. It's disgusting and needs to stop. Nobody will know until the autopsy cause of death and how long she has been in the river. If it really is her.

I'm pleased I have found this thread, I commented on him on one of the others but they were mostly bunfights.

Giving them the benefit of the doubt, I felt the police on the ground probably were always doing the right things and didn't doubt their best efforts. But there were problems:

• the shambles of press conferences with misinformation in the early days opened the door for doubts
• they never 'owned' the comms strategy and in the modern world that's part of work, whether we like it of feel it should be
• they continued to be reactive and defensive not proactive
• I know I'll get slated but FWIW I think looking professional is important and that SIO did no one any favours with the asymmetrical sleeveless dress. Nothing for strong professional women, nothing for Nicola's family. She became the talking point rather than the message she was conveying (which shows I'm not along in my thoughts) and as someone that senior she should have known better, or be advised better.

And finally - they should have owned the narrative on the big mouthed diving man too. Either he's a contractor working for us so he keeps his mouth shut. Or he's a random individual and whilst experienced, knows nothing of this case so don't listen to him as he knows no more than Joe Public breaking into buildings.

But the police let him do the search which conveyed onto him a sense of authority.

And he comes across wholly unprofessionally. He's obviously self centred and has been spectacular unhelpful in this whole thing.

It just adds great sadness to how I feel for her family that he promised so much.

There was nothing wrong (that I could see) with the dress the SIO wore.

Absolutely spot on @MaggieFS

Time for Mr Faulding to take a step back, leave the family alone, and as for his questionable antics over the past few weeks, I'm really sorry if I offend anyone, but the guy needs to get of his soap box and take a long hard look at what he himself has allowed to transpire.a bad taste Tbh it leaves bad taste in my mouth and thankfully in a couple of weeks he will once again retreat into insignificance again, such is the power of the media.

Why is my phone going a bit batty?????I don't think this site likes my android... lol. Hope you can all make out what I was trying to say....🙄 kindest thoughts to the family at this really difficult and stressful time. X

The family say they are upset about what people speculated about them/friends/family etc. Well MN posters did quite a lot of speculation.

As the police thought she sadly went into the water. The communication with the public was poor and some of that due to the mass speculation on social media MN included in that.

Nicola Bulley update and statement from her family
Monday, February 20, 2023

Sadly, we are now able to confirm that yesterday we recovered Nicola Bulley from the River Wyre.

Nicola’s family have been informed and are of course devastated. Our thoughts are with them at this time as well as with all her loved ones and the wider community.

We recognise the huge impact that Nicola’s disappearance has had on her family and friends, but also on the people of St Michael’s. We would like to thank all of those who have helped during what has been a hugely complex and highly emotional investigation.

Today’s development is not the outcome any of us would have wanted, but we hope that it can at least start to provide some answers for Nicola’s loved ones, who remain foremost in our thoughts.

The case is now being handled by HM Coroner.

Nicola’s family have asked that we release the following statement on their behalf, as follows:

Our Family Liaison officers have had to confirm our worst fears today.

We will never be able to comprehend what Nikki had gone through in her last moments and that will never leave us.

We will never forget Nikki, how could we, she was the centre of our world, she was the one who made our lives so special and nothing will cast a shadow over that.

Our girls will get the support they need from the people who love them the most.

And it saddens us to think that one day we will have to explain to them that the press and members of the public accused their dad of wrongdoing, misquoted and vilified friends and family. This is absolutely appalling, they have to be held accountable this cannot happen to another family.

We tried last night to take in what we had been told in the day, only to have Sky News and ITV making contact with us directly when we expressly asked for privacy. They again, have taken it upon themselves to run stories about us to sell papers and increase their own profiles. It is shameful they have acted in this way. Leave us alone now.

Do the press and other media channels and so called professionals not know when to stop? These are our lives and our children's lives.

To those who genuinely helped and supported us, privately, we thank you. The community support in St Michael's, friends', neighbours and strangers has been nothing short of comforting and heart-warming. Friends you know who you are. Thank you.

Our hearts truly break for others who have missing loved ones. Keep that hope alive.

Finally, Nikki, you are no longer a missing person, you have been found, we can let you rest now.

We love you, always have and always will, we'll take it from here xx 💛

This guy didn’t help the whole media frenzy being whipped over what was essentially a run of the mill missing person case. I think that this guy though wouldn’t have made the comments he did if he knew about the vulnerabilities. He assumed that if she was in the river she fell in trying to help her dog or similar. He didn’t consider she could have waded in or gone further upstream herself to attempt suicide. That would have changed his opinion and I doubt he would have been so adamant she wasn’t in the river. So I think he’s got some unfair accusations re his search ability as he was searching a defined area on the basis there were no vulnerability or reasons why Nicky might have decided to take her own life. It’s a different scenario when you know the extra info. I still think he shouldn’t have got involved though or made such bold statements

@pigsinoodies so will you stop dissecting it now please. Leave it be.

Will you stop hounding me please. You're obsessed. Just go away.

@pigsinoodies Clearly you're the one obsessed, that's become worryingly apparent. Please no more.

I think that this guy though wouldn’t have made the comments he did if he knew about the vulnerabilities.

He made those comments when he was sat 200 miles away, having never spoken to the family, nor had any contact with the police running the investigation. He's just a random member of the public speculating with no knowledge the facts.