Nicola Bulley’s Family Condemns Social Media Frenzy After Tragic Death
The family of Nicola Bulley, the Bristol mum-of-two who tragically passed away after falling into the River Wyre, has spoken out against the social media frenzy that turned her disappearance into an “unmanageable monster.” Nicola went missing on 27 January 2023 while walking her dog after dropping her daughters off at school. Her body was found 23 days later, on 19 February, about a mile from where she vanished.
In the time between, Nicola’s disappearance became a breeding ground for amateur sleuths, rampant speculation, and online abuse—much of it directed at her partner, Paul Ansell. Speaking in a new BBC documentary, The Search For Nicola Bulley, Paul reflected on the damaging impact of social media, describing it as something that spiralled out of control. “It wasn’t a huge part of our lives,” he said, “But yeah, when you experience something like this, you realise what a huge monster it can be.”
Paul explained that he received vile messages from strangers who didn’t know him or Nicola. “I was getting direct messages from people that I’ve never met. They don’t know me, they don’t know us, they don’t know Nikki,” he shared. The abuse left him feeling helpless, silenced by the fear that anything he said would be screenshot and circulated online.
Nicola’s sister, Louise Cunningham, also featured in the documentary, addressing the wild theories and speculation that emerged on social media. She firmly stated that Nicola’s death was a tragic accident, telling The Mirror, “It doesn’t always have to be something sinister linked to something that happens. Sometimes bad things just happen. I just wish it didn’t happen to us. We’re just a normal family.
Paul, who shared two daughters with Nicola, recalled the harrowing 23 days spent searching for her. “The nights were the hardest,” he admitted. “In the morning the hope would be strong. It used to go dark at like 4pm. It used to get to about 3pm, and then I’d start panicking that I knew it would start going dark in an hour.” He described the pain of telling his daughters every day that their mother was still missing: “The first thing they’d do when they came out of school was run over and say, ‘Have we found mummy?’”
Nicola’s death was officially ruled as accidental by a coroner, who concluded that she suffered from “cold water shock” after falling into the river. Despite this, social media sleuths continued to speculate, leading to accusations and misinformation.
The upcoming BBC1 documentary will explore the media storm that engulfed Nicola’s family, featuring insights from Lancashire Police and the family’s personal accounts of dealing with amateur detectives. The family hopes their involvement in the documentary will prompt people to think more carefully about their actions online, saying, “If our experience makes people think twice about how they act and what they say online, then we will have achieved some good.”