Tasteless? Force chief ’s curry tweets
THE civilian official elected to oversee Lancashire Constabulary has faced a backlash from former officers over his social media activity during the Nicola Bulley investigation.
Police and Crime Commissioner Andrew Snowden, who ordered the latest probe into the much-maligned force, made no mention of Ms Bulley on his Twitter feed until more than a fortnight after she disappeared – despite it being one of the most high-profile cases of its kind in years.
The 38-year- old Tory politician, paid £104,000 a year, instead found time to post about food, wine and his wife’s birthday, while police, experts, well-intentioned members of the public and social media sleuths tried to piece together what happened to the missing 45-year-old.
Former Royal Protection chief and Metropolitan Police divisional commander Dai Davies said: ‘To my mind it illustrates sheer crassness and a level of absurdity that beggars belief.’ Mr Davies questioned Mr Snowden’s decision to set up an inquiry ‘when so many question his role’.
Martyn Underhill, former police commissioner for Dorset and an exdetective chief inspector, said: ‘Tweeting pictures of his dinner is really not in keeping with the public mood over the hunt for poor Nicola.’
Of 45 tweets posted by Mr Snowden between when Ms Bulley went missing on January 27 and yesterday, just seven related to her case – the first of which was on February 12 and three of them were after her body was found on Sunday. Seven other tweets were jolly messages about food, wine, his wife’s birthday, Valentine’s Day and even supermarket shopping with his young son. In his biographical details, Mr Snowden states his is a personal Twitter account ‘so expect dad, hubby, cooking & walking pics’.
On January 28, the day after Ms Bulley went missing while walking her dog in St Michael’s on Wyre, the well-nourished politician posted about homemade curry.
Mr Snowden, associate director of external relations at Salford University until his election in 2021, wrote: ‘What a little feast, with a cameo from his son shopping with daddy for ingredients for a homemade curry night. Kashmiri Keema Paneer, a side of Bhindi Bhaji, and pilau rice slow steamed in the Aga.’
On February 11, 15 days into the missing person inquiry, he tweeted a snap of his dinner. He wrote: ‘Saturday night treat of lamb shank slow cooked for 8 hours in a spicy homemade curry sauce, served on garlic and seasoned rice.’
The same night, Mr Snowden shared a picture of a bottle of wine, telling his followers his son was in bed and his dog was ‘conked out’. Hello Saturday night!’, he added.