‘It’s extremely rare for forensic officers to be sent to a crime scene twice’: Ex Met detective says it’s ‘unusual’ dive teams have returned to river where Nicola Bulley’s body was found amid claims they are looking for ‘missing object’
- Specialists were filmed in the River Wyre in Lancashire less than a mile from
A former Met detective has told of his surprise after police divers returned to the river where Nicola Bulley’s body was found.
Specialists were filmed in the River Wyre in Lancashire less than a mile from the bank where the mother of two disappeared on January 27, sparking a huge 23-day manhunt.
Dr James Adeley, Senior Coroner for Lancashire, has asked Lancashire Police to return to the water for investigative work to help confirm her cause of death and what happened before she was found in the reeds on February 20.
Today, former Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley called the development ‘unusual’.
He told MailOnline: ‘It’s quite common for the CPS in a complex case to send police officers to interview a witness, but it’s extremely rare for forensic officers to be sent to a crime scene twice. The police only ever get one chance to get it right.’
Divers were filmed in the River Wyre in Lancashire less than a mile from the bank where the mother of two disappeared on January 27, sparking a huge 23-day manhunt
Nicola Bulley, pictured with her partner Paul Ansell, disappeared while walking her dog on January 27. She was found dead 23 days later
Footage from the scene shows divers working in the Wyre near its weir on Tuesday.
Mr Bleksley, who appeared on Channel 4 show Hunted, said images were ‘not a great look’ for the police.
‘Here they are, many weeks after Nicola’s body was found by a member of the public – not the police – and they’re back there again at the behest or instructions of the coroner,’ he said.
‘Throughout the hunt for Nicola Bulley, in my opinion, Lancashire Police got the messaging very wrong and now the imagery is not great.
‘How thorough, how professional, how good were the initial searches? Clearly the coroner has questions of the police, hence these specialists are back trying to find something that they manifestly didn’t find all those weeks ago.
‘i strongly suspect the police want to avoid the embarrassment of an angler or member of the public finding something they didn’t find. Just like what happened with the body.’
Forensic pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd, who worked on important cases such as the Stephen Lawrence investigations and was called as an expert in the trial of Harold Shipman, has said he believes the police are looking for a missing object.
However, former detective superintendent Julie MacKay told MailOnline she was ‘not convinced’ by this hypothesis.
The coroner has ordered Lancashire Police to return to the river to help with Nicola’s upcoming inquest, which will determine her cause of death
Ms Bulley (pictured), 45, went missing after walking her dog near the river in St Michael’s-on-Wyre
‘It would be interesting to note the height of river levels today compared to the date that she went missing. It may be that they are gathering in formation regarding flow levels, height of the river, speed and how obstructions are presenting.
‘If the river levels are not the same then there must be a new piece of information that is relevant and the Coroner is seeking to either corroborate, explain or discount it.
‘This may have come from a member of the public or from an expert who has been assisting the Coroner.’
In the footage the divers can be seen wading through the water next to the weir close to where the 45-year-old’s phone and her dog Willow were found on the morning she disappeared.
The divers climbed over the weir and one had been ‘floating on his back’ in the water. They were then filmed wading through the water at different depths.
Ms Bulley’s body was found a mile downstream from the weir on February 19, among reeds and undergrowth. A cause of death has not been made public.
An inquest into her death will be heard on Monday, June 26, at County Hall in Preston.
A spokesman for HM Coroner said: ‘The investigation will take time to complete to ensure that as complete a picture as possible of the facts concerning Ms Bulley’s death is presented at the inquest. This will assist the family in understanding what occurred.’
Lancashire Police confirmed the divers returned to the River Wyre as part of the investigation into Nicola Bulley’s death.
‘We can confirm this is us carrying out some work at the direction of HM Coroner,’ a police spokesman told the Lancashire Post.
Police had twice searched the area where Nicola was found before a member of the public discovered her body in the reeds. Pictured are police during one of the earlier searches
Lancashire Police faces several probes over its handling of the case.
The force was widely criticised for disclosing Ms Bulley’s struggles with alcohol and the perimenopause two weeks into the search after she vanished by the riverside near St Michael’s on Wyre.
Lancashire Constabulary has also yet to address why it took 23 days for Ms Bulley’s body to be found, as well as its handling of social media sleuths who filmed themselves in back gardens searching for the 45-year-old mortgage adviser.
Her body was discovered by psychic Jason Rothwell. An inquest into her death was opened and adjourned later in February. Coroner Dr James Adeley told the four-minute hearing at Preston Coroner’s Court that Ms Bulley was identified by dental records.
He added the remainder of the evidence ‘will require further evaluation’ and no cause of death was given. The inquest is due to resume this summer.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct has already begun investigating Ms Bulley’s prior contact with police. An officer carried out a welfare check at her home 17 days before she went missing.
And the Information Commissioner’s Office – which focuses on data privacy – has made initial inquiries with the force to understand the reasons for disclosing Ms Bulley’s personal information at a press conference.
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