Yvette Cooper 'concerned' over Lancashire Police handling of Nicola Bulley investigation

The Shadow Home Secretary and Labour MP Yvette Cooper has told The News Agents podcast that she is ‘concerned’ about the information Lancashire Police has released to the public in relation to the case of Nicola Bulley, describing the disclosure around issues of the menopause and alcohol as ‘very unusual.’

Speaking to the podcast hosts Emily Mailtis and Lewis Goodall, Ms Cooper also questioned whether there is a sufficiently senior ranking police officer working on the case.

She said: ‘I think what you would expect is for something like this, is for the decision to be taken by a very senior officer and I don't know whether that has happened in this case.”

The Labour MP also told Emily and Lewis that any police officer accused of domestic abuse or rape should be ‘immediately suspended’ and criticised the Home Secretary Suella Braverman for abandoning the commitment to make ending violence against women and girls part of the Home Office’s strategic policing requirements.

When asked for her reaction to Lancashire Police disclosing information about Nicola Bulley’s issues around the menopause and alcohol, she said:"I am concerned,

and it is very unusual, what they've done.

"We have contacted Lancashire Police to ask for more information. I understand the police are in a complicated situation and they've got an important investigation underway.

"I understand they've had discussions with Nicola Bulley's family about all of this, but I do want further information because it's so unusual to provide that level of detailed information about someone who is missing in this way and so I do have concerns about it.

“I think what you would expect is for something like this, is for the decision to be taken by a very senior officer and I don't know whether that has happened in this case. But

I guess the most important thing at the moment is that there is all possible support for Nicola's family and also for the ongoing investigation.’

Asked by Emily what should happen to a police officer, if a case comes to light of a serving officer with an allegation of domestic abuse, Cooper replied: “I think they should be immediately suspended.

"If they're facing an allegation of domestic abuse, or of rape that is being investigated, they should be immediately suspended.

“I mean, it's just obvious, surely. And so, it's one of the most shocking things about the David Carrick case that even though the Met was still reeling from what had happened in the murder of Sarah Everard, they still didn't suspend David Carrick when serious rape allegations were made against him.”

Commenting on the Home Secretary’s approach towards ending violence against women and girls, Cooper asserted Braverman has ‘abandoned’ the commitment to make it a Home Office priority, telling Emily and Lewis:

“We [Labour] pressed for violence against women and girls to be made part of the Home Office's strategic policing requirement, to be alongside the counter terror and serious and organised violent crime, as the priorities that are part of effectively the Home Office's instructions to police forces. These need to be national priorities.”