TikTok sleuths spark outrage after filming themselves digging up woodland close to where Nicola Bulley vanished
- Amateur TikToker Curtis Cool Stuff posted it on his Nicola Bulley account
- The footage sparked backlash amongst locals as police asked sleuths to stop
- The search for the missing mother-of-two has now entered its fourth week
TikTok sleuths have sparked fury after filming themselves digging up woodland close to where Nicola Bulley vanished despite police repeatedly warning them to stop.
Two amateur detectives recorded themselves searching a copse near to the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire, where the mother of two disappeared three weeks ago.
One is seen digging up soil while the other man films him and comments on Ms Bulley’s disappearance.
The video was uploaded onto social networking site TikTok this morning by Curtis Cool Stuff, who also posted a video showing him roaming around a large, supposedly vacant house, on the opposite side of the river from the bench where Ms Bulley was last seen.
Lancashire Police have warned on more than one occasion that while grateful for offers of help, they would prefer the investigation be left to trained detectives.
One of the ‘detectives’ grins as he appears to search for the missing mother – despite police telling amateur sleuths to stop
The search for Nicola Bulley, 45, has brought hundreds of amateur sleuths into the previously sleepy village
And today, locals in St Michael’s on Wyre blasted the outsiders flocking to the village ‘sticking their noses in’ and leaving litter.
One local dog walker, who gave his name only as John, fumed: ‘This TikTok stuff is ridiculous. It’s a lot of people playing armchair detectives and speculating about things they don’t know anything about.’
Scooping up litter he said had been left by ‘sightseers’, John added: ‘It’s not helping the police at all. These videos just attract more people who haven’t got anything to contribute but just want to be part of it.
‘It’s really disrespectful to Nicola’s family to have people who don’t know anything about it making comments and sticking their noses in. There’s even people filming themselves digging in some of the woods nearby. It’s shocking.’
It comes after TikTok sleuth Dan Duffy was arrested and fined for posting videos from the search scene.
Duffy, of Darwen, Lancashire was held in police custody for 20 hours and fined £90 after being arrested a week ago for a public order offence.
Since Ms Bulley went missing, the police have tried to crackdown on what they have called ‘false information, accusations and rumours’ fueled by huge public interest in the case.
Vigilantes have live-streamed their attempts to break into the allegedly abandoned house near the scene where she vanished.
The video began with the pair walking through the copse a few seconds before they stumbled upon apparently disturbed ground
The video was uploaded onto social networking site TikTok this morning by Curtis Cool Stuff
One of the men, who has a shovel to hand, begins digging around a patch of woodland
Curtis Cool Stuff also posted a video showing him roaming around a large, supposedly vacant house, on the opposite side of the river from the bench where Ms Bulley was last seen
READ MORE: Nicola Bulley could have gone ‘off-grid’: Missing persons expert says there is ‘no indication’ mother is in river
Video from the area has been viewed and commented on by hundreds of people who have become swept up in the mystery surrounding her disappearance.
Self-proclaimed psychics and body language experts have also broadcast videos about the case while others are analysing satellite photos from home to try and find clues.
Fed-up police chiefs issued a 48-hour dispersal order in the area last week following reports of individuals from outside St Michael’s filming close to properties.
The order gave officers the power to turn away anyone committing anti-social behaviour, which has become so bad that locals have hired a private security company to stop amateur sleuths peering through their windows.
Wyre Council leader Michael Vincent told Sky News: ‘People have reported being sat in their living rooms in an afternoon watching television and people coming up to the windows, peering in, trying the doors, it’s been terrifying for them.
Police chiefs issued a 48-hour dispersal order on Wednesday night in the area
Another TikTok sleuth Dan Duffy was previously arrested and fined for posting videos from the search scene
Nicola Bulley, 45, from Inskip, Lancashire, was last seen on the morning of Friday January 27, when she was spotted walking her dog on a footpath by the River Wyre off Garstang Road in St Michael’s on Wrye
Flowers and a message tied to a bridge over the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire, as police continue their search for missing woman Nicola Bulley
‘These are typically older people extremely scared in their own homes.
‘The residents have had to employ an external security company, that’s just not acceptable.’
Ms Bulley vanished after dropping off her daughters, aged six and nine, at school on January 27 in St Michael’s on Wyre.
She was last seen at 9.10am taking her usual route with her springer spaniel Willow, alongside the River Wyre.
Her phone, still connected to a work call for her job as a mortgage adviser, was found just over 20 minutes later on a bench overlooking the riverbank, with her dog running loose.
A spokeswoman for Lancashire Police said today that officers were still scouring the area adding: ‘We are continuing our search for Nicola using specialist resources on the River Wyre and into the estuary.’
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