Why did the search for Nicola Bulley turn so toxic? | podcast

After the mortgage adviser disappeared TikTok detectives, grief tourists and the media descended. Now her family have hit out at the ‘appalling’ way they have been treated. What went wrong?

When Nicola Bulley, a 45-year-old mortgage adviser, went missing on 27 January while walking her dog and on a work call, it could have been seen as just another missing person’s case. Instead, social media influencers, amateur sleuths and psychics descended on her village, alongside the UK press.

The Guardian’s north of England correspondent, Robyn Vinter, explains to Hannah Moore why seemingly puzzling details and a lack of clear police communication led to an assumption that there was more to the case than met the eye. As fascination with Bulley’s whereabouts increased, grief tourists arrived while TikTok users made videos, searched empty houses and even made accusations against her family.