Nicola Bulley: Man arrested over footage shot inside police cordon on day body found

A man has been arrested over footage shot from inside a police cordon on the day Nicola Bulley’s body was found.

Lancashire Police said the 34-year-old man from Kidderminster, Worcestershire, was arrested on Wednesday morning.

He was arrested on suspicion of malicious communications offences and perverting the course of justice in connection with the investigation to find Ms Bulley.

Ms Bulley’s body was found in the River Wyre in Lancashire on 19 February, after an intensive three-week search operation.

The arrest relates to footage taken from inside a police cordon on that day and the force said that the footage was then posted online.

Lancashire Police said the man was arrested with assistance from West Mercia Police, and he has since been released on bail with conditions.

“Our priority is, and has always been, to support Nicola’s family and the wider community in St Michael’s. We hope this arrest provides reassurance that we take concerns seriously and will act on them,” Lancashire Police said.

It comes following reports of a number of apparent content creators descending on the village where Ms Bulley went missing.

Police recovered a body from the river on 19 February which was later formally identified as the missing mother-of-two.

Ms Bulley, 45, was last seen on 27 January while walking her dog in St Michael’s on Wyre.

The springer spaniel was found shortly after, along with Ms Bulley’s mobile phone, which was discovered on a bench beside a steep riverbank. The phone was still connected to a work conference call.

Experts have claimed social media algorithms that reward and encourage controversial content fuelled the waves of online interest in Ms Bulley’s case.

During the investigation, Detective Superintendent Rebecca Smith said social media users had been “playing their own private detectives”.