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A blogger has been handed another defeat in a year-long effort to force Lancashire Police to hand over evidence from its investigation into Nicola Bulley’s disappearance and death.
Chris Ness, who writes about multiple supposed conspiracies, has no apparent connection to the late mum or her family but has made repeated attempts to gain access to information presented at her inquest.
Mr Ness wanted to be given a PowerPoint presentation which was displayed at the inquest and showed information from her FitBit watch and used a Freedom of Information (FOI) request in an attempt to get this and the source data.
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As first reported by The Lancashire Lead, Lancashire Police rejected the request on the grounds the information was only being held as it had been requested by the coroner rather than for policing purposes. Not content, Mr Ness appealed to the Information Commissioner who twice ruled in agreement with the force’s arguments that the data was exempt from FOI requirements.
Still, the appeals went on and this month a tribunal headed by Judge Hazel Oliver handed down a judgement which agreed that commissioner’s decision was indeed made in accordance with the law and the latest appeal dismissed.
The tribunal defeat happened earlier this month, just weeks before the broadcast of a documentary in which Nicola’s family will talk about the damaging impact of the media and social media.
Speaking to the BBC, Nicola’s partner Paul Ansell described the online interest in her search as a “monster” that got out of control as the family faced accusation and threats.
Among sinister messages he received were phrases such as “you can’t hide” and “we know what you did”.
He said: “On top of the trauma of the nightmare that we’re in, to then think that all these horrendous things are being said about me towards Nikki – everyone has a limit.”
Nicola’s sister, Louise Cunningham, added: “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. We’ve had a really tough time.”
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