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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Susie Beever & Tim Stewart

TikTok ghoul who filmed Nicola Bulley's body is still sharing sick smears online

The TikTok ghoul who shared a disgraceful video of police retrieving the body of missing mum Nicola Bulley from a river is continuing to share damaging slurs about the family.

Hairdresser Curtis Arnold said he had "learned his lesson" after facing widespread outrage for posting the footage.

The TikTok amateur sleuth from Kidderminster, West Midlands, reportedly profited from the clip after the mum-of-two was discovered in reeds in the River Wyre close to where she went missing.

But now he has re-posted the notorious clip, which has been earning him hundreds of pounds in royalties, on YouTube - simply adding the caption 'viewer discretion'.

Amid the fierce backlash, vigilantes have vandalised a barber shop where Arnold used to work by spraying the word 'N**CE!' on the window.

Nicola Bulley was missing for more than three weeks before her body was found (PA)

Despite having no journalistic credentials, the body-builder with a lengthy criminal history continues to make six-hour round trips from Worcestershire to St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire 'reporting' on the case.

His latest videos once again contain outrageous smears that Nicola's partner Paul Ansell was somehow involved in her disappearance.

He is also caught filming the farm owned Nicola's friend Emma White and a member of her family, believed to be her sister, angrily confronts him and demands to know what he is doing.

Mr Arnold came under heavy fire for sharing the footage of police discovering Nicola last month (Tom Maddick SWNS)

She says: "You've just gone out on the news and in the media saying 'Oh, I'm sorry' but then you're back. Are you wanting to do this for fame or for 'likes'?"

He answers: "I'm a curious person".

She also disputes Arnold's insistence that he has donated "five times" the amount his infamous clip made in royalties to the 45-year-old mother-of-two's family.

Arnold claimed to have made £716.06 from the footage, which has now been seen over a million times, although has since said it's "probably closer to £900".

"My ambition is to be a full-time YouTuber and make a good living from it," Mr Arnold says in his videos.

"The income potential is there and I love doing what I am doing on the channel."

A GoFundMe page set up by Nicola's friends to support her family has raised over £35,000 for her partner Paul Ansell and the couple's two daughters.

According to the page, the highest anonymous donation made by anyone is £1,000.

A GoFundMe page for Nicola's family has raised thousands (Lancashire Constabulary / SWNS.C)



Arnold meanwhile has accused police officers of 'picking on him' because of his recent media profile after he was ticketed for an incorrectly spaced number plate, saying on his video: "Lancashire Police there felt like they were doing something good.

"It's a shame they weren't that proactive when they were needed a few weeks
ago."

Arnold has headlined a string of videos with outrageous smears against Mr Ansell and filmed a 'possible burial site' in woodland near where Nicola was last seen on January 27.

The hairdresser's most controversial video also showed an ashen-faced couple in shock after finding Nicola's body in reeds by the River Wyre on February 19.

He admits that he was lying when he told a police officer that he was returning to his parked car after a "walk in the countryside" and claimed to another that he was from Blackpool.

Curtis Arnold was unmasked as a TikTok amateur sleuth who shared footage of Nicola Bulley being retrieved from the water (Facebook)

At some stage after tricking his way past the police road blocks, Arnold says he crouched in a field to film covertly as a body bag was pulled from the water.

He recalled: "I held the phone as high above me as I could, resting it on fencing.

"I couldn't see a thing but I knew my camera would be recording whatever was happening.

"It wasn't until I got back to where the mainstream media were gathered that I realised what was on the footage."

In a subsequent apology following the video being posted, he said: "Safe to say I've learned my lesson maybe on a video like that but at the same time there are a lot of people saying that the video is helpful to highlight the police not really doing what
they should be doing."

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