It is the mystery that has gripped England for more than three weeks but reached its tragic epilogue yesterday. Nicola Bulley’s body was found about a kilometer from where her 45-year-old mother disappeared while walking along the river. But the controversy continues as the case has now turned political amid government involvement, criticism of the police and attacks on the media.
Nicola is survived by his 44-year-old partner and two girls aged nine and six. And yesterday the family released an angry statement: “It saddens us,” they said, that we will one day have to explain to their daughters how “press and members of the public” have accused their father. And family members have condemned the “shameful” media intrusion.
The facts go back to the morning of January 27 when Nicola vanished into thin air while walking her dog along the River Wyre in Lancashire: Police were convinced from the start that the woman had ended up in the water and drowned , but no one seemed convinced of this explanation. Certainly not the do-it-yourself detectives who had traveled from all over the country to help with the investigation (and ended up getting in the way digging around the river and raiding abandoned houses): and certainly not not the web’s conspiracy hordes who have been circulating the most bizarre theories online, focusing on Nicolas Partner’s role, the couple’s relationships and their finances.
Precisely to deal with all this shouting – and the accusations of incompetence in the face of such a long-unsolved case – Lancashire Police called a press conference last Wednesday at which it was announced, to everyone’s astonishment, that Nicola was “high”. -at-risk” individual who had “significant drinking problems” due to their difficulty coping with the onset of menopause.
The sudden withdrawal of the police had caused an outcry at the political level: Home Secretary Suella Braverman herself had intervened to ask the investigators for an explanation because they were “not entirely satisfied” with their motivation, putting an end to the speculation. A line later endorsed by the Prime Minister himself, Rishi Sunak.
The police had said from the first moment to exclude suspicions or “third parties”. The search had been carried out using helicopters, underwater drones and sniffer dogs: until a team of experienced divers also joined and extended the sighting to the open sea. And now one wonders how it is possible that two passers-by accidentally found the body not far from the place of disappearance, who sounded the alarm on Sunday morning.