WPC Molly Bury accessed the Police National Computer to get intimate updates about tragic mum of two Nicola Bulley, who sparked a major police hunt when she went missing, to pass on as ‘tittle tattle’
A glamorous policewoman dubbed the ‘Hot Cop’ has been sacked after she was busted for sharing confidential information about the tragic mum of two, Nicola Bulley, whose disappearance sparked a police search in 2023.
WPC Molly Bury, 28, illegally tapped into the Police National Computer to take details about 45-year-old Nicola to share with friends and family.
Nicola was discovered dead in the River Wyre at St Michaels on Wyre in February 2023 after a three-week search for her sparked rampant online speculation. A coroner later determined she had drowned after accidentally falling into the water while walking her dog.
When a friend asked her for more, Bury, who served with Lancashire Police in Blackburn, fretted: “I will get in s*** if they see me checking.”
Pushed further, she confessed: “I have not checked. I cannot keep checking. I will get into trouble.”
The cop got nicked after someone overheard her mum Andrea Mercer bragging about how Bury had leaked info on a rape case after she “checked her police thing”. A probe uncovered that Bury, nicknamed ‘Hot Cop’ by locals, had been peeking at police logs from October 2019 to March 2023 to share confidential police information with no genuine police reason.
She also snatched details on the death of an infant, a hit-and-run, and a stabbing, and in one day alone, she accessed a report on domestic violence and nabbed info on a planned arrest of a robbery suspect.
When questioned, she confessed to being ”stupid and nosey” but maintained that her actions were not malicious. Most of the information was accessed while she was on annual leave or off sick.
At Chester Magistrates’ Court, Bury, the mother of one from Accrington in Lancashire, pleaded guilty to 32 counts of unauthorised access to police logs. She faced up to two years in prison under sentencing guidelines but received a six-month sentence, suspended for 12 months, after a judge deemed her ”profoundly immature” and ”not corrupt”.
Earlier, prosecutor Miss Gayle McCoubrey stated an unnamed member of the public contacted the police in March 2023, after overhearing Bury’s mother discussing information about a rape that had occurred in Lancashire.
The prosecutor said: “She was heard to say, ‘I asked Molly. She checked her police thing and she said it was a rape.’ She said Molly had told her about a victim a few weeks prior and she said it was a murder.”
Police systems revealed WPC Molly Bury had viewed both logs on a police-issued Samsung device while off duty. Police raided Bury’s home and found a mobile phone which showed she had sent confidential information about various police incidents. In October 2019, she shared details of a stabbing incident she had attended with a friend named Elliot, stating: “The lad from stabbing survived.”
She later sent him additional messages saying: “A hit and run just came in. Woman probably going to die. Car drove onto the pavement into this lad and girl.” In another message about a deceased baby found in December 2019, Bury said: “Oh my God, it is a one year old child.”
Bury was also given an order to complete 30 days of rehabilitation activity and pay £154 in costs and surcharge. Deputy Senior District Judge Tan Ikram opted to sentence without hearing mitigation and said: “In respect of the interview, she was remorseful and made admissions.
“She said she had been stupid and nosey. She was not malicious but accepted that she crossed boundaries.”
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