She said she had been ‘screaming at the television’
Loose Women star Denise Welch has sparked fury after comments she made on the ITV show about Nicola Bulley.
The search for the missing mum has entered its 14th day, with investigators and police still unsure of what has happened to her.
The 45-year-old disappeared two weeks ago while walking her dog along the River Wyre. She was last seen at 9.10am, having earlier dropped her daughters, aged six and nine, at school. Her phone, still connected to a work call, and the dogs lead and harness was found a short time later. Lancashire Police’s “main working hypothesis” is that she accidentally fell in the river.
As uncertainty remains around what has happened to the mum, police have urged people not to take the law into their own hands or speculate on social media about her whereabouts.
But during an appearance on Loose Women, regular panellist Welch sparked anger from viewers when she discussed the fact that she herself had questioned some of the actions of investigators.
Speaking about the case, she said: “This is the problem, we’ve created globally all of these armchair detectives. And I am partly responsible because I’ve made no bones of the fact that in my mind I’m the ‘Crime Minister’.
“You know I’m obsessed with true life crime. When I was young and you had the news at 6pm and a couple of newspapers, all of these things went on and you didn’t know very much about it. But now we see it played out in real life and Lincoln and I are responsible for it because we know now, well we think we know, a lot about forensics.”
She admitted that she had been “screaming at the television” in criticism of the investigating teams on the case.
“I was guilty of the other day, screaming at the television: ‘Why are people walking along that area? That should still be a crime scene. That should still be evidence.’ Then I thought hang on a minute, there’s obviously a reason why they haven’t kept that,” she added.
“But you think that you know because you watch so many crime shows.”
Many took to social media to criticise Welch for her comments, whilst also questioning why the ITV show appeared to be doing exactly what the police have urged people not to do.
“So ‘don’t speculate about this case’ has been what ITV has said ALL Morning all throughout their programmes, while they sit there doing exactly that – speculating,” one wrote.
Another said: “Why are Loose Women allowed to talk about it and we’re not?”
And a third wrote: “Also there has to be some speculation; how is Nicola going to be found if theories are being ruled out because they make people uncomfortable to consider #LooseWomen.”
Lead investigator Superintendent Sally Riley has urged people not to “take the law into their own hands” or “do anything that would thwart” the investigation as speculation has grown on social media about what might have happened to Nicola.
Supt Riley explained that it is not helpful “if people take it upon themselves to take the law into their own hands by trying to, for example, break into empty property.”
Superintendent Sally Riley warns the public not to take the law into their own hands as the search continues for missing mother-of-two Nicola Bulley.https://t.co/ZvHr1bs6uZ
Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/SR0SXYFtDX
— Sky News (@SkyNews) February 7, 2023
On Thursday, the search for the mother-of-two moved to Morecambe Bay, around 20 miles from where Nicola was last seen. Two boats with specialist police teams were seen in the sea, before heading upstream on either side of the river, with police suggesting finding her “in the open sea becomes more of a possibility”.
It also came after a specialist group drafted in to help trawl the river for Nicola pulled out of the operation on Wednesday night, suggesting she is not where police think she is, and amid calls for an abandoned house to be searched.
And late Thursday, it was suggested police are also still trying to track down a “tatty-looking” red van which was parked close to the spot where Nicola disappeared.
Police have maintained that they have so far found no evidence of third-party involvement.
However, they’ve acknowledged the “possibility” Nicola left the bench where her dog and mobile phone were found via the only pathway not covered by CCTV cameras.
Related links:
- Nicola Bulley’s daughters asks heartbreaking question as search enters 14th day
- Nicola Bulley diving expert reveals ‘proof’ she didn’t fall into river where police claim she vanished
- Nicola Bulley detectives probe missing two hours between mum’s disappearance and first call to police
