Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
William Mata

Nicola Bulley – latest: Lancashire Police failures flagged months before mum went missing

PA

Police handling of Nicola Bulley case to be under full independent review

Diving expert Peter Faulding has been “made a scapegoat” over the investigation of the death of Nicola Bulley, whose body was found in the River Wyre three weeks after she went missing.

Mr Faulding, previously registered as an expert on the National Crime Agency’s list of experts, was struck off from the list after his team failed to locate Ms Bulley’s body in the three-mile stretch of the river, between St Michael’s and Cartford Bridge.

Leaping to his defence, former police detective and criminologist Mark Williams-Thomas claimed that Mr Faulding and his team’s ability to find bodies on land and water “is amongst the best in the world”.

“He has been made a scapegoat, Lancashire Police searched that whole area already before Pete arrived,” he said.

Mr Faulding was brought in to assist the search at the family’s request and claimed in media interviews that the 45-year-old dog walker was not in the river, adding that if she was in that river he “would have found her”.

Meanwhile, Lancashire Constabulary had been found to “require improvement” in how it investigated crime months before the force investigated Bulley’s disappearance.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.