A former senior detective has said that either investigators had made serious mistakes or the body had been deliberately “weighed down” after the shock discovery of a woman’s body in the search for Nicola Bulley.
Police have still not officially confirmed that the body found in the River Wyre on Sunday (February 19) is that of the missing mum-of-two.
However, Sunday’s find by two members of the public, less than a mile from where Nicola when missing, has led most independent observers to assume that the body found is that of the missing 45-year-old.
READ MORE: 'TikTok detective' who joined Nicola Bulley search arrested and fined by police
The chance discovery came in the wake of a 23-day search by a 40-strong team of detectives as well as a sonar sweep by Peter Faulding’s specialist forensic search organisation.
Asked how the body could have lain undiscovered for so long, an anonymous former detective told The Times : “The police had underwater drones and the private company had 3D scanners for that reason, so it seems unlikely.
“That means really only two other possibilities — the body was weighed down or there were failures in the search.”
He stressed that was important to remember that all of the facts in the case have yet to be established.
Peter Faulding has already insisted the area where a body was found is "not part of my remit".
Nicola Bulley’s family could face days before finding out if body found in river is hers
In a new statement, the search specialist claimed: "Sadly, the discovery was not found in the river but in the reeds at the side of the river which was not part of our remit as the side-scan sonar does not penetrate reeds above or below the water."
However, he did admit that his team had searched the exact stretch where the body was found "for four hours on our first day and then upstream past the weir on the subsequent two days".
Former Lancashire Police detective Bob Eastwood told BBC Radio 4's Today programme said that Faulding's intervention, as well as the activities of "TikTok sleuths" had been a significant distraction for the investigating team : "The dramas the police have had to deal with during this, it's been on colossal scale and I think it's a watershed moment in how policing going forward [will deal with] the use of so-called specialists.
"I think in this case," he added, the Faulding team "imposed themselves on the investigation and Nicola’s family, and I’m hoping their consciences are currently in overdrive.”
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Nazir Afzal, a former chief crown prosecutor for northwest England, added that Lancashire Police’s insistence that Nicola had fallen into the river had been vindicated by the discovery of a body.
A lot of people online — armchair sleuths — have been suggesting something more nefarious than what happened,” he said.
“I’m no expert on underwater search teams. But there was an underwater search team. They said it was very difficult circumstances in which to try and locate the body. The experts know what they are doing.
“But, clearly, questions will have to be asked about why the body wasn’t located earlier, given the area where they were searching and where the body was eventually found"
Nicola Bulley's partner bombarded with racy snaps of half-naked women by sick trolls
The police have stressed that the body had not been positively identified and they are "currently treating the death as unexplained".
Lancashire Police have already referred themselves to the Independent Office for Police Conduct [IOPC] over the contact the force had with Nicola prior to her disappearance.
Further questions will now inevitably ask about how the unsuccessful search took 23 days, only for a body to be found by two ordinary members of the public.
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