Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt slams Lancashire Police for revealing private health issues about missing Nicola Bulley as she describes disclosures as ‘sexist’ and ‘shocking’
Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt this morning described the disclosure of private information about missing mother-of-two Nicola Bulley as ‘shocking’, as she joined the Home Secretary and Prime Minister in demanding answers.
Speaking on the BBC‘s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, she said the ‘additional drama’ which has surrounded Ms Bulley’s disappearance is ‘horrific’.
It comes as the search for the mortgage advisor enters its fourth week after she vanished without a trace while walking her springer spaniel Willow.
Lancashire Police force sparked outrage from critics this week after it released a statement revealing Ms Bulley had suffered some issues with alcohol as a result of severe symptoms of peri-menopause and HRT treatment.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has contacted police leaders about the investigation as the Prime Minister said he too was ‘concerned’ by the revelation.
Nicola Bulley, 45, from Inskip, Lancashire, was last seen on the morning of Friday January 27, when she was spotted walking her dog on a footpath by the River Wyre off Garstang Road in St Michael’s on Wrye
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, Penny Mordaunt (left) said the ‘additional drama’ which has surrounded Ms Bulley’s disappearance is ‘horrific’
Appearing on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, Ms Mordaunt said: ‘It’s quite shocking. And I think that both the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary are right to raise concerns about this.’
She added: ‘The first thing I felt was for her family. I mean, it’s bad enough having had your loved one go missing, but to have had all the additional drama that’s accompanied this very tragic case is horrific.
‘I think it really does grate with a lot of women and we have to put up with all kinds of sexist behaviour in all kinds of settings. And I think to have it play out in this kind of environment is why people are so upset.’
Asked whether police displayed sexism in their dealing with the case, Ms Mordaunt said: ‘I think that they clearly were motivated to try and explain why this case is a complex one.
‘But I think there are serious questions to be asked about why they wanted to reveal particular information.’
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper also raised concerns about the case, saying there is a wider problem with how the police deal with misogyny.
Ms Cooper, who also contacted the force about the level of detail it released about the missing mother’s personal life, said she had received ‘further information’ from the force.
She did not expand on the information she had been given, saying the focus should remain on the search for Ms Bulley and the review launched by the Information Commissioner, who is now looking into how the disclosure was handled.
But she said: ‘I think we should almost sort of put this case aside… There is a wider issue about the way in which the police has dealt with particularly violence against women and girls, and of course with standards around misogyny and around approaches towards violence and abuse within police forces themselves.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Lancashire Police revealed Ms Bulley was classed as a ‘high-risk’ missing person
Flowers and a message tied to a bridge over the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire, as police continue their search for missing woman Nicola Bulley
Nicola Bulley’s sister shared a heartbreaking message on Friday, appealing for Ms Bulley to ‘come home now’
‘We’ve obviously had the terrible cases of Wayne Couzens and David Carrick, neither of whom should have been police officers, and where really standards have not been high enough.’
In a press conference on Wednesday, Lancashire Police revealed Ms Bulley was classed as a ‘high-risk’ missing person immediately after her partner reported her disappearance ‘based on a number of specific vulnerabilities’.
They later added in a statement that the mother-of-two had been struggling with alcohol issues and peri-menopause, and had stopped taking her HRT medication.
Former Inspector of the Constabulary Zoe Billingham yesterday said Lancashire Police’s actions have created ‘an element of doubt’ for families over turning to the police if a loved one goes missing.
Speaking to Sky News, Ms Billingham accused Lancashire Police of harming the public’s trust in police: ‘I think the fact that this very personal information has made its way into the public domain and is being poured over is going to cause people to have an element of doubt over whether or not they will phone the police now if their loved one went missing.’
She continued: ‘99.9 percent of police officers do a great job for us every day, are here to make us safe and the public should report this in.
The internal probe comes exactly three weeks after 45-year-old mortgage adviser Nicola Bulley (pictured) vanished during a dog walk in St Michael’s on Wyre
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said she has personally been in touch with Lancashire Police
‘But to actually have undermined confidence in the police in this way is deeply disturbing.’
Lancashire Police also faced backlash after announcing early in the investigation that their ‘main hypothesis’ was Ms Bulley fell in the river, despite there being no evidence to prove this was the case.
Former police officers have also questioned why basic actions such as closing off the area where Ms Bulley’s phone and dog were discovered for forensic examination were not completed.
The force has confirmed a date has been set for the internal review, which will be conducted by their Head of Crime, Detective Chief Superintendent Pauline Stables – but that date has not been made public.
On Friday Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley offered to conduct a review on behalf of the force, but Lancashire Police were criticised after deciding to do it themselves.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has also received a referral from the force regarding the contact officers had with Ms Bulley on January 10 – before she went missing.
Meanwhile PM Rishi Sunak, speaking about the release of personal details after Lancashire Police announced it will conduct an internal review, said he is ‘pleased police are looking at how that happened in the investigation’.