Nicola Bulley - Police Blaming Begins

It was a baffling disappearance: Nicola Bulley, a 45-year-old woman from rural Lancashire, went missing one morning leaving her phone still logged in to a work call, and her dog wandering loose. The disappearance had occurred next to the River Wyre; Police divers searched the river. Ms Bulley was classed as high risk, lending the search rather more urgency.

Nicola Bulley

All the while, the massed ranks of our free and fearless press were on hand to make sure their readers knew that they really cared; what they really meant was that the Fourth Estate was sharpening its cudgels in anticipation of the missing woman being found dead. Then the blame game could begin in earnest. Yesterday a body was found in the river. And the Mail was away.

Although the process of identification has not yet been completed, the inmates of the Northcliffe House bunker are readying themselves to dump on the cops. “'It was a body of a woman, there is definitely a body down there': Dogwalker told police searching for Nicola Bulley that dead person in river 'is a woman' - as photo shows awful moment they point to body” they tell.

Read down the article and the preparation for cop blaming is clear. “The investigation into Ms Bulley's disappearance has attracted widespread speculation as well as criticism of the police response … The force came under fire after making Ms Bulley's struggles with alcohol and peri-menopause public three weeks after she vanished”. There was more.

“Lancashire Police faced backlash for ‘wasting’ the first 24 hours of the investigation by not carrying out door-to-door inquiries and jumping to the conclusion Nicola fell into the river … fierce criticism of police for releasing personal health details about Ms Bulley this week, including from Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt and PM Rishi Sunak”. And more.

Getting righteous: Rolf's old pal ...

“Criticism of the force has been mounting since the 45-year-old's disappearance on January 27 … This week police publicly divulged information about Nicola Bulley's battles with alcohol brought on by the menopause - a decision critics blasted as ‘sexist’”. That’s the same paper that invented a malicious story about Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner.

That was the “Basic Instinct” defamation of Ms Rayner, which could not have actually happened. But all this is rather general: isn’t there an individual, a senior Police officer, who the Mail and the rest of the tabloid pack can then latch on to and blame? But you know the answer: Amanda Bloody Platell, who first mentioned the Rayner invention, has already been on the case.

And so it came to pass. “Detective Superintendent Rebecca Smith at press conference yesterday - skin tight navy dress, stilettos, poker straightened hair - whatever happened to a cop uniform! Or is she auditioning for Love Island for midlifers. Show some respect for a missing mother!” There was more.

“It was a cocktail frock and wildly inappropriate for such an important circumstance”. Just in case anyone thought this was an isolated occurrence, along has come Petronella Wyatt, another Mail regular and defender of Lady Susan Hussey’s drift into unconscious racial bias. She agrees with Amanda.

... and Bozo's former mistress

“Detective Superintendent Rebecca Smith seems to be using Nicola Bulley’s disappearance as a excuse to showcase her toned physique. Who wears a sleeveless dress in February? To those who say, does it matter what people wear to work? Yes, it does, when they are police officers.” There was more.

“Had it been a male detective wearing something slightly unprofessional I would have remarked on it, too. It has nothing to do with her sex. Men and women should not go sleeveless in the office in February. It’s not a [sic] elegant look”. And, just to remind us, she had the best of intentions.

“If the Lancashire Police had done their job, there wouldn’t be mad Tik Tok sleuths trampling all over the ground, and Nicola Bulley’s family would have had some answers. As it is, it’s become a circus. I think of her poor children all the time”. Yes, DS Smith is being lined up for a good press kicking.

Which may well feature a righteous blast from the pundit who brought us “Why I pray my dear friend Rolf [Harris] is innocent” (he wasn’t), and the former mistress of disgraced former alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson. Or it could be anyone from the Mail’s unappealing and obscenely overpaid roster of Opinionistas. Someone must be blamed.

Profiting from someone’s sad death? Thus the sickness that is the Mail.

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