Nicola Bulley latest: Police chief speaks out about the investigations into her force's handling of the case

Lancashire’s Police and Crime Commissioner announced the details of an ongoing independent review into the response to the mum of two going missing on Tuesday, May 9.

Although this review is not set to be published until Autumn, Lancashire Police has already been subject to two separate investigations regarding the handling of the tragic case.

In the first investigation, which looked into police disclosure of personal information about Nicola on February 15, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) concluded that they would not take any enforcement action.

For the second investigation, the force referred themselves to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) following contact Lancashire Constabulary had with Nicola on January 10, before she was reported missing.

The IOPC investigators focussed on the actions of one officer and after completing their investigation, they have found no misconduct or wrongdoing.

Whilst the force’s Assistant Chief Constable thanked both watchdog bodies the for their work yesterday (May 9), Lancashire Police’s second in command has now also spoken to the Post.

Commenting on the findings released already, Deputy Chief Constable Sacha Hatchett said: "We’re really grateful to the ICO for looking at the Nicola case and coming to their conclusions.

“It’s not so much a relief, we were confident that we understood what had happened, but we're grateful for the ICO for coming with their determination. I honestly do believe that there will always be lessons to learn in that type of critical incident. I think those lessons will probably be for the service as a whole. But, I cannot underestimate the effort and the dedication that was demonstrated by our staff who wanted to do the best for Nicola’s family.”

The ongoing independent review commissioned by the Police and Crime Commissioner with the College of Police, is set to be published in Autumn.

The review has three clear areas of focus: the operational response to the high-risk missing person investigation, the communication and engagement with the press, public and family, and decision making surrounding the disclosure of sensitive personal information.

On this investigation, DCC Hatchett said: "We are working with the College of Policing, and when that reports in, we will understand if there are any lessons for us to learn, and likewise, what are the things that we did really well. At the heart of this, you've got children who have lost their mum, you've got a husband who's lost his wife, parents who've lost a child and friends and family who have lost a loved one.

"I believe that throughout, we put Nicola and her family at the heart of what we were trying to do. I know that the senior investigating officer and her team worked really hard, the search officers and their team worked really hard, the community teams worked really hard, they were ever present in St. Michael's. But all of that was done, because we wanted to bring Nicola home to her family, and we look forward to hearing the outcomes of the review, to see what we did well, and if there is any learning for policing as a whole from it."