'Nicola Bulley's reputation 'destroyed' by police'

[MyrtIe]

Article here

The points made about victim blaming and the police disclosing this information to cover themselves are spot on imo.

The usual gutter press are having a field day with this today.

What exactly was the point of it? What's it achieved, apart from compounding the heartache of her loved ones?

YABU - the police were right to divulge this sensitive information as it was relevant to the investigation

YANBU - there was absolutely no need to do so

Sad but the children may be well. aware of it already. Their mum has had issues with alcohol and meath health struggles to the degree that the police were doing welfare checks. The family are clearly known to the authorities.

I feel like telling my friends that if I should disappear it is not as a result of the menopause. It will be because I’ve been abducted or other reasons. But not my hormones. I think it’s disgraceful feels like we are going back to the 19th century where women could be put in as institution if they were showing any feelings at all.

The police are very well known for covering their own arses. They all do it and it just makes things 10x worse. They never ever learn either.

They absolutely have. The people who have allowed over 10,000 posts of largely gossip should be very ashamed of themselves.

Are they owned by the same people who own The Sun?

I still can't get the niggling feeling out of my head that there's a third party involved. This information has made it look like she has either just upped and left or she's taken her own life. I feel that the search will be scaled right back now :(

This information should have remained private. Imagine she has run off somewhere to clear her head? Many people go missing for a number of reasons. By broadcasting she may have had alcohol issues and have it plastered all over the media..would this want to make an already vulnerable person go home? I feel so awful for her and her children especially.

The Poirot wannabes are a PITA but if the police had done their job properly they’d have warded off the area so they couldn’t contaminate potential crime scenes.

The police were backed into a corner with all the speculation. It is the armchair detectives who have been posting all kinds of conspiracy theories online and taking it upon themselves to investigate that have caused this.

I have seen speculation about why she was seen as a missing person so quickly and, as soon as the press conference finished yesterday, the speculation about her vulnerability began in earnest. They had ro say this to put it all to bed.

I agree.

This thread is not about speculation. If it becomes so I'll ask for it to be deleted.

Me too.

Also I’m not buying the “there’s no way she left the river area”!

She wasn’t in a tunnel. She could have walked over many fields, crossed the river. She just didn’t come out at two particular ends that’s all

@Quveas and yet here you are on another on of these threads that you despise

You know people have been hampering the investigation, breaking into a house, trampling the scene. I think you are mistaken about who is being childish.

I've been following this truly devastating story since Nicola disappeared and like you all I'm deeply upset about the recent private information that the police have leaked about her. I'm struggling just like it sounds she did too, and no doubt she tried to ask people for help or to listen to her. I don't know what to do anymore either but plough on for my kids. It's awful what they must be going through. How can we stop this happening again? x

There is no good reason as to why police should have posted medial information. None at all. Sometimes, loons should just be ignored and never indulged

Relevant to the investigation, but why would it be relevant to tell the public?

There's a whole slew of issues with this case.

Arm chair detectives and pod casters on social media focusing on the case and adversely affecting RL investigations by the professionals.

Genuine concerns about potential police bias and a lowering of trust in police in UK - given recent many cases hitting the news.

Really bad handling of the press and public by the police force in question indicating a lack of media training possibly.

I don't think the recent statements have helped anyone.

They should've said it at the beginning and the speculation wouldn't have happened.

I question the ex police officer's statement that this "destroys her reputation". Alcoholism is an illness, mental health problems are a health condition, thousands of women have issues with the menopause. Is it automatically shameful to have menopause problems or mental health difficulties?

The police can do no right.

If they don’t give enough details they are in the wrong, as they are apparently withholding information that can help find her.

If they do give details they are in the wrong, as it’s apparently not fair to her/her family.

I don’t know whether they should have given the details but it is incredibly important to the case.

There were witness’s and if they felt she was drunk then it makes her much more vulnerable.

It would make sense why they are so concerned with the water as she may have gone in intentionally to commit suicide or she would be more at risk of falling and not surviving.
She could also do something out of character like running away and getting in danger elsewhere.

The police would have been aware of this from the start and I do think they’ve crumbled from constant judgments about not giving enough information.

They will also have a lot more information that they are not releasing which will probably come out once she’s been found or after a certain time.

I think it's time everyone (including me) shut up completely about the whole thing- the family don't need to read or see or hear any of the stuff that has been discussed. It's not helping anyone. If you feel that strongly write to the Chief Constable of Lancashire Police and Independent Police Complaints.

Mumsnet should remove all of the threads- they are all awful.

Why was the welfare check mentioned? If they insist on disclosing an alcohol issue under the guise of it being important to their investigation, why did they need to go even further than that?

They knew it had happened. The public didn't. They've gone far too far.

She has been judged to be a more vulnerable person for the purpose of investigating her disappearance. Someone with known mental health problems, who has expressed suicidal thoughts or spoken of harming themselves, someone reliant on prescription medication who does not have that with them, someone who has 'a problem with alcohol' to the point of police and health professionals recently being asked to do a welfare check on them: if people with those circumstances disappear then they will be treated in a different way to someone with no known vulnerabilities. Since the police can't throw everything at a major intensive search every time an adult is reported missing.

I don't think the wider public expressly needed to know about the problem with alcohol, but her being vulnerable - quite possibly, to explain the actions of the police. Otherwise it eventually would have come out that the police had been to her house to check on her in the past weeks, and that they responded immediately to her disappearance giving her the status of someone who is vulnerable. And what would the speculation have been then? That she was the victim of a domestic assault? That she was suicidal?

I think information that can help with the direction of an investigation should be released at the start. Regardless of what that information is.

It would also help reduce unhelpful speculation.

The public do not need her medical information in order to identify her.

The reason that they put out appeals isn’t to allow the public to pry into the person’s life but to get their face out and ask people to help spot them.

We do not ever need to know the level of personal detail Lancs police put out whilst the potential missing person is still potentially alive