TikTok sleuth accused of filming Nicola Bulley’s body 'still making money' under fake name 'investigating' migrant hotels
25 February 2024, 08:07
A self-declared ‘TikTok detective’ who was arrested on suspicion of filming Nicola Bulley’s body is still making 'investigation' videos under a new alias.
Curtis Arnold gained notoriety last year for making TikTok videos about the disappearance of Ms Bulley in Lancashire.
Mr Arnold was arrested in June 18 after police spotted his car near St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire, where Ms Bulley was found in February. He was forced to delete his account.
But he appears to have made a series of new accounts on YouTube and Facebook, among other platforms, where he has tens of thousands of followers.
The bodyworn camera videos show him going to migrant hotels and having confrontations with police. It is unclear how much he has made from the videos, but accounts with similar numbers of followers have been known to get hundreds of pounds per post.
Reached for comment by the Mirror, Mr Arnold said: "This is not a story that will positively reflect on me, so I’ll leave you to it."
Arnold rose to prominence when he was arrested on suspicion of malicious communications offences and perverting the course of justice in connection with the investigation into Ms Bulley.
He posted a video on YouTube complaining about his arrest.
He captioned the clip on his YouTube channel: “My arrest over...Lancashire police prove their point and ban me from Lancashire and...from uploading or speaking about her case”.
Arnold, 34, claimed he was only driving to Blackpool to film a thunderstorm when the officers pulled him over, after following him for a few miles.
Arnold said in an earlier video: "When they read out the details of the arrest they just said, 'This guy's been seen in the area of St Michael's on multiple occasions and made videos on the area'.
"'Multiple people who live there basically feel distressed and they feel like the guy is harassing them, stalking them.'"
"That was the basis of the arrest. I'm not allowed to do videos on all these different people who have been named. Basically, they're people who live in St Michael's, I think."
Ms Bulley’s disappearance sparked a frenzy of interest from internet ‘content creators.’
Many came to the village where Nicola was last seen, sharing theories that they hoped would crack the case.
Hundreds of people traipsed through the beauty spot, taking photographs to post on social media. Others broke into buildings and went through residents’ gardens at night in the hope of finding her.
Police had to issue a 48-hour dispersal order to clear the village at one stage during the investigation.
Detective Superintendent Rebecca Smith said that social media users had been 'playing their own private detectives'.
The force asked people not to 'take the law into their own hands' and risk 'thwarting' their investigation.
