Summarize this content to 50 wordsA former detective chief has exposed a series of police mistakes in the desperate search for Nicola Bulley – and says public confidence in the investigation is ‘very low’.A former Detective Superintendent during a 30-year career with the Metropolitan Police, Simon Harding has worked on a number of high-profile cases, including the murder of Sarah Everard and sisters Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry.He says mistakes in the investigation into Mrs Bulley’s disappearance date back to the day she went missing.The 45-year-old mother of two disappeared around 9.15am on January 27 while walking her dog along the River Wyre in Lancashire. But Mr Harding has wondered why a police cordon was not put in place immediately after her ‘strange’ disappearance. Simon Harding is a former Detective Chief Inspector and spent 30 years with the Metropolitan Police The 45-year-old mother of two disappeared around 9.15am on January 27 while walking her dog along the River Wyre in Lancashire.He has also asked why police persist in the theory that Ms Bulley fell into the river and why detectives are not sharing more information about their investigation.To enrol The Sunday timeshe said: “You would expect the area where Nicola was last seen to be cordoned off too, to prevent people visiting it as a tacky tourist spot and losing any evidence they might have. ‘But there doesn’t seem to be a cordon, because Nicola’s disappearance wouldn’t be suspicious.“The cordoned off crime scene where Nicole and Bibaa were killed was a million square feet and I held that cordon for three weeks to make sure everything was done.“When you have a high-profile investigation like this, you need to have clear strategies to follow: CCTV, witnesses, find out everything about the victim, secure the crime scene, capture evidence, liaise with the missing person’s family, check their finances, starting door-to-door investigations and, crucially, having a robust search and media plan in place.”Mr Harding said that given the apparent routine events of the missing mother prior to dog walking, her case should have been judged ‘with the highest possible risk’.He also criticized the public reporting to police, first revealing the working hypothesis that she had fallen into the river, before undermining it by saying they had an “open mind”.He added: ‘The police came to a tragic accident and made their views public within days. But to say this to the family and the media, you have to be 100 percent sure. It undermined the later statement that they had an “open mind”.So why did the police stubbornly stick to their initial drowning hypothesis? I would have demanded evidence and facts that would make me completely sure that this was the case before telling the public that there had been “no third party involvement”. Ms Bulley, 45, disappeared without a trace around 9.20am while walking her dog Willow Nicola’s cell phone was found on this couch with Willow’s belt and harness on the floor”If every possible route in and out of that area isn’t covered by cameras — as it probably is in the countryside — you just can’t be sure someone else isn’t involved.”Police have insisted their main working hypothesis is that Ms Bulley fell into the river as the investigation enters its 17th day, despite suggestions from friends and independent investigators that it is unlikely. Detectives searched an area seven miles from where Nicola went missing earlier in the week and the search was extended to Morecambe Bay. But Mr Harding has described the hypothesis as ‘an incredibly damaging message’ as police can’t be 100 per cent sure she hasn’t left the area.Instead, Mr Harding adds, this discourages the public from contacting police with potential evidence. He has called on Lancashire Police to release any further information in its possession to the public to help curb ongoing speculation among amateur detectives.The former detective also warned officers who “had already made up their minds that the disappearance was an accident.” Yellow ribbons with messages of hope written on them are tied to a bridge over the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire A missing persons call poster for Nicola Bulley on a bridge over the River Wyre on SaturdayIt comes because a witness reportedly told police they saw two men ‘behaving suspiciously’ outside a church near where Nicola Bulley went missing – a day before her disappearance.They say they subsequently spotted one of the two men in the same area the morning she went missing, amid growing signs that police are beginning to treat the disappearance as a crime.Detectives then reportedly visited St Michael’s Garage on Thursday to request CCTV from the time of the witness statement.
<!-- wp:html --><p>Summarize this content to 50 wordsA former detective chief has exposed a series of police mistakes in the desperate search for Nicola Bulley – and says public confidence in the investigation is ‘very low’.A former Detective Superintendent during a 30-year career with the Metropolitan Police, Simon Harding has worked on a number of high-profile cases, including the murder of Sarah Everard and sisters Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry.He says mistakes in the investigation into Mrs Bulley’s disappearance date back to the day she went missing.The 45-year-old mother of two disappeared around 9.15am on January 27 while walking her dog along the River Wyre in Lancashire. But Mr Harding has wondered why a police cordon was not put in place immediately after her ‘strange’ disappearance. Simon Harding is a former Detective Chief Inspector and spent 30 years with the Metropolitan Police The 45-year-old mother of two disappeared around 9.15am on January 27 while walking her dog along the River Wyre in Lancashire.He has also asked why police persist in the theory that Ms Bulley fell into the river and why detectives are not sharing more information about their investigation.To enrol The Sunday timeshe said: “You would expect the area where Nicola was last seen to be cordoned off too, to prevent people visiting it as a tacky tourist spot and losing any evidence they might have. ‘But there doesn’t seem to be a cordon, because Nicola’s disappearance wouldn’t be suspicious.“The cordoned off crime scene where Nicole and Bibaa were killed was a million square feet and I held that cordon for three weeks to make sure everything was done.“When you have a high-profile investigation like this, you need to have clear strategies to follow: CCTV, witnesses, find out everything about the victim, secure the crime scene, capture evidence, liaise with the missing person’s family, check their finances, starting door-to-door investigations and, crucially, having a robust search and media plan in place.”Mr Harding said that given the apparent routine events of the missing mother prior to dog walking, her case should have been judged ‘with the highest possible risk’.He also criticized the public reporting to police, first revealing the working hypothesis that she had fallen into the river, before undermining it by saying they had an “open mind”.He added: ‘The police came to a tragic accident and made their views public within days. But to say this to the family and the media, you have to be 100 percent sure. It undermined the later statement that they had an “open mind”.So why did the police stubbornly stick to their initial drowning hypothesis? I would have demanded evidence and facts that would make me completely sure that this was the case before telling the public that there had been “no third party involvement”. Ms Bulley, 45, disappeared without a trace around 9.20am while walking her dog Willow Nicola’s cell phone was found on this couch with Willow’s belt and harness on the floor”If every possible route in and out of that area isn’t covered by cameras — as it probably is in the countryside — you just can’t be sure someone else isn’t involved.”Police have insisted their main working hypothesis is that Ms Bulley fell into the river as the investigation enters its 17th day, despite suggestions from friends and independent investigators that it is unlikely. Detectives searched an area seven miles from where Nicola went missing earlier in the week and the search was extended to Morecambe Bay. But Mr Harding has described the hypothesis as ‘an incredibly damaging message’ as police can’t be 100 per cent sure she hasn’t left the area.Instead, Mr Harding adds, this discourages the public from contacting police with potential evidence. He has called on Lancashire Police to release any further information in its possession to the public to help curb ongoing speculation among amateur detectives.The former detective also warned officers who “had already made up their minds that the disappearance was an accident.” Yellow ribbons with messages of hope written on them are tied to a bridge over the River Wyre in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire A missing persons call poster for Nicola Bulley on a bridge over the River Wyre on SaturdayIt comes because a witness reportedly told police they saw two men ‘behaving suspiciously’ outside a church near where Nicola Bulley went missing – a day before her disappearance.They say they subsequently spotted one of the two men in the same area the morning she went missing, amid growing signs that police are beginning to treat the disappearance as a crime.Detectives then reportedly visited St Michael’s Garage on Thursday to request CCTV from the time of the witness statement.</p><!-- /wp:html -->