Nicola Bulley's family say social media became a monster during police search

A new documentary called The Search For Nicola Bulley hears her family claim social media got out of control and became a 'monster' as they felt 'silenced'

The family of Nicola Bulley have spoken about how social media got out of control around her disappearance and became a "monster" for them.

Nicola disappeared on January 27, 2023 while walking her dog in St Michael's on Wyre, shortly after dropping her daughters at school. Her body was found in the River Wyre on February 19, about a mile from where she vanished. But in the intervening 23 days the search for Nicola sparked amateur sleuths online, wild speculation and abuse for her partner Paul Ansell.

He says he felt "silenced" and came off social media during the search after getting abused. Paul says: "It wasn't a huge part of our lives. But yeah, when you experience something like this, you realise what a huge monster it can be, I guess."

In a clip from a new BBC documentary, Paul adds: "I was getting direct messages from people that I've never met. They don't know me, they don't know us, they don't know Nikki. They know nothing about us.

"Just messages like 'you b******'. 'We know what you did'. 'You know you can't hide Paul', that kind of stuff. "There was some that I felt like replying to, but then if you reply to that, they'll just screenshot your reply, if that'll end up on social media. And so you're literally silenced, and you can't do anything about it."

Nicola’s sister Louise is at pains to say in the documentary for all the social media sleuth speculations, Nicola’s death was just a horrific accident. "It doesn't always have to be something sinister linked to something that happens," Louise says. "Sometimes bad things just happen. I just wish it didn’t happen to us. We're just a normal family. We've had a really tough time."

On top of the online abuse, Paul had to try to stay positive during the 23 day search for the sake of his two daughters he shared with Nicola. He admits it was tough at times.

Paul says: “The nights were the hardest. In the morning the hope would be strong. It used to go dark at like 4pm. It used to get to about 3pm and then I’d start panicking that I knew it would start going dark in an hour. So we had an hour to find her.

"And then obviously I’d have the girls. The first they’d do when they came out of school was run over and say ‘have we found mummy?"

Last year, a coroner recorded Ms Bulley's death as accidental, saying she had fallen into the river and suffered "cold water shock", and there was "no evidence" to suggest suicide. Police accused some people on TikTok of "playing private detectives" in the local area, and said they had been "inundated with false information, accusations and rumours" relating to Nicola's case.

The Search For Nicola Bulley on BBC1 next week will explore the media coverage and the impact of "amateur internet sleuths" conducting their own investigations, as well as hearing from Lancashire Police and Nicola's family.

She disappeared on January 27 2023 while walking her dog in St Michael's on Wyre, shortly after dropping her daughters at school.

Her body was found in the River Wyre on February 19, about a mile from where she vanished.

The 23 day search received global news coverage and in particular on social media led to wild speculation about what had happened.

Nicola's sister, Louise Cunningham, along with her parents Ernest and Dorothy Bulley and partner Paul Ansell have all participated in the new documentary as they reveal the impact of the public scrutiny on their lives.

Nicola's family have previously hit out at "wildly inaccurate speculation" after the 45-year-old's death.

They released a statement through the production company Rogan Productions in June about the new documentary, saying that taking part "wasn't an easy decision".

The family of Nicola Bulley said at the time: “Collectively we thought long and hard about taking part in a documentary about Nikki. It wasn’t an easy decision. Nikki's face and name quickly became very recognisable, but there is so much to share about Nikki the person. Our sole aim is to provide the definitive record on Nikki to ensure she has the legacy that she deserves. Many people have aired their views about her disappearance and her untimely and tragic death, only we can speak about her as a mummy, partner, daughter, and sister.

"In addition, if our experience of being in the eye of a media storm makes people think twice about how they act and what they say online, then we will have achieved some further good. We’d also like to express our sincere thanks to everyone at Rogan Productions who have treated us with great care, respect and compassion throughout the process of making this documentary. It was emotionally draining reliving some of our experiences, but we wanted to do this for Nikki.

“Nikki's loss is felt by us all, every day, we have drawn a huge amount of comfort from the kindness of so many people, and we want to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has taken the time to contact us. We have so appreciated the many kind words and gestures during the worst times of our lives.”

An independent College of Policing review of the investigation into Nicola's disappearance found the relationship between police and the media "to be fractured", and made suggestions for it to be rebuilt.

The review also criticised the disclosure of personal information about Nicola's health struggles as "avoidable and unnecessary".

* The Search For Nicola Bulley will air on October 3 on BBC One.

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