'Nothing less' than an independent review will suffice
A day after Lancashire Police
confirmed the body pulled from the River Wyre on Sunday was missing mum
Nicola Bulley there are mounting calls for an independent inquiry to be launched into how officers missed it despite 23 days of extensive searches.
Dog walkers alerted police to the discovery of the missing mum-of-two, who was found in reeds a mile from where she was last seen walking her dog at 9.10am on January 27.
Former crime commissioner Martyn Underhill said Lancashire Police has serious questions to answer about its media strategy and search of the river - and "nothing less" than an independent review is needed.
https://twitter.com/GBNEWS/status/1627672465857220610
He told
The Times: "These are crucial issues that go to public confidence. I may well be totally wrong and Lancashire might be completely vindicated.
"But I have never known a force to be so reluctant to seek external help — the Met and other forces all offered. The home secretary must get to the bottom of it."
On Monday, Home Secretary Suella Braverman said she is not "wholly satisfied" with the force's explanations for earlier revealing Nicola's alcohol dependency and menopausal issues last Wednesday, something the
Information Commissioner's Office is now assessing. Separately, the Independent Office for Police Conduct are investigating the force over its earlier dealings with Nicola.
The Sun reports that Braverman and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are awaiting the outcome of those two investigations before deciding on an independent inquiry.
Braverman has said: "I did have concerns earlier in the week about some of the elements relating to the release of personal information into the public domain.
"I raised those concerns with the chief constable - I wasn't wholly satisfied, I have to say, with some of the responses I got.
"There are some investigations ongoing. We must wait for them to conclude."
Former Scotland Yard detective, Peter Bleksley, has also been highly critical of Lancashire Police.
He told Sky News: "The bottom line is Lancashire Police and all their experts and all their doctrines did not find Nicola.
"Two people walking along a river bank did.
"Leading experts in their field helped with the search in terms of tide and river movements.
"River movements can be complex but [Detective Superintendent Rebecca Smith] also went on to say that a nationally-recognised searching doctrine had been followed."
Bleksley also made that point that the force kept telling the public not to speculate what happened to Nicola, but then did exactly that themselves.
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