Nicola Bulley: Man, 34, arrested over police scene footage

Nicola Bulley was last seen during a riverside walk on 27 January

A man has been arrested over footage shot from inside a police cordon on the day the body of Nicola Bulley was found in a river in Lancashire.

Ms Bulley, 45, disappeared while walking her dog and her body was found 23 days later in the River Wyre.

Lancashire Police said the 34-year-old man from Kidderminster, Worcestershire, was arrested on Wednesday morning.

He was detained on suspicion of malicious communications offences and perverting the course of justice.

The arrest relates to footage taken from inside a police cordon on 19 February.

Ms Bulley, who worked as a mortgage adviser, was last seen walking her springer spaniel Willow after dropping off her two daughters, aged six and nine, at school on 27 January.

Her disappearance sparked a major search operation in St Michael's on Wyre. Her body was recovered more than three weeks later in the river a mile away from where she was last seen.

The man was arrested with assistance from West Mercia Police, and has since been released on bail with conditions, police said.

A spokesman for the force said: "Our priority is, and has always been, to support Nicola's family and the wider community in St Michael's.

"We hope this arrest provides reassurance that we take concerns seriously and will act on them."

It comes following reports of a number of apparent content creators descending on the village where Ms Bulley went missing.

Experts have claimed social media algorithms that reward and encourage controversial content fuelled the waves of online interest in Ms Bulley's disappearance.

During the investigation, Det Supt Rebecca Smith said social media users had been "playing their own private detectives".