Nicola Bulley latest news: Police refer themselves to watchdog over contact with missing mother

Lancashire Police have referred themselves to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) over the contact the force had with missing mother Nicola Bulley seventeen days before she disappeared, the watchdog said.

In a statement, the IOPC said: “This afternoon we received a referral from Lancashire Constabulary regarding contact the force had with Nicola Bulley on 10 January, prior to her disappearance.

“We are assessing the available information to determine whether an investigation into that contact may be required and if so, who should conduct that investigation.”

Home secretary Suella Braverman has asked Lancashire Constabulary to explain why personal details about Nicola Bulley’s health were made public, as the force faces a potential watchdog investigation over an incident days before her disappearance.

It comes amid outrage over the disclosure of claims regarding the mother-of-two’s alcohol consumption and experience of menopause, with a former police watchdog questioning how the information was “even vaguely relevant”.

A source close to Ms Braverman said: “The home secretary was concerned by the disclosure of Ms Bulley’s personal information by Lancashire Police and asked the force for an explanation.”

My biggest concern is the police concluding – within days of Nicola’s disappearance – that they had formed a working hypothesis that Nicola fell into the water and drowned. My major problem with having a hypothesis so early is it has the danger of looking for evidence to fit that theory, rather than everyone remaining open-minded.

Former detective Mark Williams-Thomas lays out what he thinks the police investigation should focus on now:

There have been too many revelations during these inquiries and elsewhere about everyday, casual, institutional misogyny on a scale that is difficult to comprehend

Read our latest editorial here:

Ms Bulley, originally from Essex but now resident in Inskip, was heading east along the River Wyre in Lancashire with her brown springer spaniel Willow when she vanished near St Michael’s on Wyre at approximately 9.15am on Friday 27 January.

Here is a brief overview of the information released so far as the investigation continues.

We take a look at a timeline of the case as the search continues:

Missing Nicola Bulley’s “crisis” was caused by her stopping her HRT, her family say.

Ms Bulley, who has been missing from her Lancashire home since Friday 27 January, had been suffering intense headaches because of the medication, they said in a statement released by police.

The 45-year-old had been taking hormone-replacement therapy because of symptoms of perimenopause, her family explained.