Nicola Bulley cop sacked for trying up info on the lacking mom’s case so she might share it as gossip with associates

A female police officer was sacked for looking up information on Nicola Bulley so she could share it as gossip to her pals.     

Molly Bury, 28, illegally accessed the Police National Computer database to get intimate details on the missing mother’s case so she could pass them on as ‘tittle tattle’. 

When one friend kept pestering her for more information about the 45-year-old, Bury, who worked for Lancashire Police at Blackburn, admitted: ‘I will get in s*** if they see me checking.’ 

When pressed again she added: ‘I have not checked. I cannot keep checking. I will get into trouble.’

The officer was arrested after a shocked member of the public overheard her mother Andrea Mercer telling how ‘Molly’ had shared information with her about a rape after she ‘checked her police thing’.

Investigations revealed Bury had been accessing the police logs over a three year period between October 2019 and March 2023 to share ‘idle gossip’ for ‘no policing purpose’.

She also obtained info on the death of a baby, a hit run and crash and a stabbing and in one day alone she accessed a log about a domestic violence incident and grabbed information about a preplanned arrest of a robbery suspect.

When quizzed she admitted she had been ‘stupid and nosey’ but insisted she was not malicious.’ Most of the information was accessed when she was on annual leave or on the sick.

Nicola was found dead in the River Wyre at St Michaels on Wyre in February 2023 following a three week manhunt for her which sparked wild speculation online. A coroner later concluded she had drowned after accidentally falling into the water whilst walking her dog.

Bury, who was given the nickname ‘Hot Cop’ by locals after she was pictured giving crime prevention tips at a children’s centre, appeared at Chester magistrates’ court to admit 32 charges of unauthorised access to police logs. 

She faced up to two years jail under sentencing guidelines but was sentenced to six months in prison suspended for 12 months after a judge ruled she was ‘profoundly immature’ and ‘not corrupt.’

Earlier Miss Gayle McCoubrey, prosecuting, said the unnamed member of the public contacted police in March 2023, after overhearing Bury’s mother sharing information about a rape that had occurred in Lancashire.

The prosecutor said, ‘She was heard to say, ‘I asked Molly. She checked her police thing and she said it was a rape.’ She said Molly had told her about a victim a few weeks prior and she said it was a murder.

‘Police systems identified that WPC Molly Bury had viewed both logs on a police issued Samsung device whilst off duty.’

Police raided Bury’s home and recovered a mobile phone which showed she had sent confidential information about various police incidents.

In October 2019 she sent details a stabbing incident which she had attended to a friend called Elliot, saying: ‘The lad from stabbing survived.’ She later sent him further messages saying: ‘A hit and run just came in. Woman probably going to die. Car drove onto the pavement into this lad and girl.’

In a further message regarding a dead baby found in December 2019, Bury said: ‘Oh my God, it is a one year old child.’ When on a rest day she sent further texts saying to Elliott: ‘Undercover police are outside your address.’ to which he replied: ‘F** the feds.’

The court heard Bury also shared information with a woman called Amy Sanderson about a local man wanted for a stabbing, another in jail for drugs offences and about a woman who jumped off a building.

Miss McCoubrey said: ‘On January 28, 2023, the defendant was showing as off sick yet she carried out a search for Nicola Bulley and messages were sent regards that. She sent a number of text messages with regard to that missing person.

‘On January 29, she was sick but has again accessed the police system and viewed deployed patrols. At 10.59 Miss Sanderson asked: ‘Any update on Nicky?’ She replied, ‘I will get in shit if they see me checking.’

‘At 11.01, she accessed the Samsung device and searched again and a further message was sent regarding Nicola Bulley. At 6.33 Miss Sanderson sent a message ‘Any update?’ and Miss Bury replied: ‘ I have not checked. I cannot keep checking. I will get into trouble.”

‘In terms of culpability, this conduct takes place over a number of years, there are 32 occasions, so obviously the volume of the charges is an aggravating feature. She is also a serving police officer and she shared that information with multiple members of the public.

‘It is difficult to assess the harm as we do not know what the outcome was from accessing that information. She was spreading gossip or sensitive information. There was no policing purposes for this defendant to access the logs on these occasions.’

Bury was also ordered to complete 30 days of rehabilitation activity and pay £154 in costs and surcharge. 

Deputy Senior District Judge Tan Ikram proceeded to sentence without hearing mitigation and said: ‘In respect of the interview, she was remorseful and made admissions. She said she had been stupid and nosey. She was not malicious but accepted that she crossed boundaries.

‘These are not corrupt messages. There is no money involved. There is no suggestion this is a criminal fraternity. 

‘She clearly knew what she was doing was wrong. but the harm is damage to the reputation of police and confidence in policing. It was immature gossiping throughout. She was doing work without any insight into the job. It was tittle tattle nonsense much of it.’

He told Bury: ‘You made admissions and you were remorseful in the interview.. I think it was real remorse. You described your actions as stupid and that you had been nosey. 

‘You did not think you were malicious and I accept that.But you conceded that it crossed boundaries and these undignified and unlawful disclosures demonstrated profound immaturity on your part.

‘There was a complete lack of insight into the need for confidentiality in policing. You seem to find humour and positive pleasure in sharing information. On occasions it is clearly more than curiosity and it is clear that it gives the impression of idle gossip.’

The judge added: ‘You are a police officer 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Just like I am a district judge 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It does not matter where I am or what I am doing – I am accountable. I find your behaviour disappointing.’