Nicola Bulley: Social media influencer arrested & fined after joining search for missing mum-of-two
A SOCIAL media influence has been arrested and fined after joining the search for missing mum Nicola Bulley.
Dan Duffey, a TikTok user and amateur sleuth, was slapped with a £90 fine over a public order offence on February 10 after getting involved in the search.
Duffy, from Darwen, Lancashire, filmed the arrest and uploaded it to his YouTube channel, Exploring with Danny.
In the clip he said: “Hi guys, I’m being arrested on a public order offence. They’ve had an allegation.
“As you all know I was in search to find the missing woman Nicola but this is what it’s turning into. No freedom of speech.”
The video showed him dressed in a black vest and handcuffed as a police officer holds his arm.
He was then taken away in a police car, before a title card read: “20 hours in the police station arrested on a public order offence for searching for missing woman Nicola Bulley.”
Duffy was later filmed standing on the back step of a police van, giving the middle finger with both hands.
A final title card revealed that he left with no further charges.
He is one of several social media personalities who have travelled to the site where the 45-year-old mum went missing to try and find her.
Videos from his TikTok account show him searching the sides of the River Wyre, which Nicola is believed to have fallen into, as well as nearby buildings.
One clip shows him in a confrontation with a man believed to be a local resident.
The wannabe investigator has previously been slammed for filming his exploits and profiting from the family’s heartbreak.
It comes after cops issued a warning over amateur detectives and online trolls involving themselves in the case.
A private security firm has been brought in to patrol the village where Nicola was last seen after locals said they felt unsafe.
Police also confirmed on February 15 that Nicola was being treated as a high risk missing person due to “personal vulnerabilities“.
They revealed that they had been called to her family home just weeks before she vanished.
Nicola has been missing since January 27, when she disappeared while walking her dog in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire,
Her partner Her partner Paul Ansell believes “something happened” on the day she disappeared as people do not just “vanish into thin air”.
However, Detective Superintendent Rebecca Smith of Lancashire Police confirmed that the force’s “main working hypothesis” remains that Nicola fell in the river.
But she revealed two other theories for her disappearance – Nicola leaving the area voluntarily and third party involvement.
DS Smith said: “There is not a single piece of information or evidence to suggest there is any third-party involvement.”
There is also nothing to suggest Nicola left the field voluntarily.
Asked if she hoped to find her alive, DS Smith said: “I hope with all my heart that we find Nicola Bulley alive more than anything.”
On Duffy, a spokesperson for the force said: “A 36-year-old man from Darwen was arrested under Section 4 of the Public Order Act – Fear/Provocation of Violence.
“He was given a Fixed Penalty Notice.”