Disappearance of Gaia Pope

Gaia Pope was born on 2nd July 1998 in Swanage, Dorset to Richard Sutherland and Kim Pope.[1][2][3] She had a twin sister, Maya, as well as an older sister, Clara.[4] She attended Brockenhurst College in the New Forest.[5]

In 2013, Pope was provisionally diagnosed with epilepsy. In the following months and years, she received further appointments, diagnosis and treatment for this.[6]

In 2014, when Pope was 16-years-old, she began speaking online with Connor Hayes, then aged 22-years-old from Bournemouth, Dorset.[7][8] After speaking online, Pope and Hayes met up.[6] Pope was a victim of exploitation, as well as being drugged and raped by Hayes. Hayes allegedly threatened Pope that he would kill her and her family if she told anyone what happened.[9] Hayes was already under investigation by Dorset Police for unrelated matters and was a known child sex offender.[10] As a result of the incident, her mental and physical health declined.[11]

In December 2015, Pope disclosed the offences to her family and mental health professionals. In her first mental health crisis, she was admitted to hospital on December 15th. However, Pope felt that the rape allegation was not believed by some health professionals, with her healthcare records referring to her having 'delusions of sexual assault'.[9][6] The incident was also reported to police, who arrested Hayes on suspicion of rape on December 16th.[6] On December 17th, Pope was discharged from hospital into the care of the Dorset Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS).[6]

In 2016, Pope continued reaching out for community mental health support. Her epilepsy was worsening, however, she continued to receive further treatment for this.[11] Pope also had weekly counselling sessions in regards to her rape from the Dorset Sexual Trauma and Recovery Services (STARS).[6]

On 15th June 2016, Pope was told by Dorset Police over the phone that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Hayes. [6][7][11] Whilst Hayes was not prosecuted for Pope's allegation, in April 2016, he was charged with unrelated offences of taking an indecent moving image of a child, possession of indecent images of a child and paying for the sexual services of a child.

In September 2016, Pope was discharged from community mental health services for adolescents, however, no onward referral was made for mental health services available to adults.[11] Her support from Dorset STARS also ended.[6]

On 24th November 2016, Pope met in person with Dorset Police who explained the decision that the investigation into her rape by Hayes would face no further police action.[6] It was alleged that Dorset Police discouraged Pope from submitting a Victim's Right to Review, a scheme allowing victims to get the Crown Prosecution Service to review certain decisions, such as not starting or stopping a prosecution.[12][10][13]

On 29th November 2016, Pope engaged with community mental health services after being referred for psychiatric assessment.[6]

In December 2016, Hayes pleaded guilty to the unrelated offences and Pope sent a screenshot to her family that he had sent her a friend request on Facebook.[6] On 15th December 2016, Pope was discharged from the community mental health services. Despite a discharge letter noting Pope's PTSD and suggesting that other teams working with Pope in regards to trauma would be beneficial to her, there is no evidence of any referrals in regard to this.[6]

On 3rd January 2017, Hayes contacted Pope. She reported this to police, seeking an order against him. An order wasn't granted and no safeguarding referrals were made. On 13th January, Hayes was served with a Police Investigation Notice, which informed him that he may be arrested if he continued any further acts amounting to harassment.[6]

In February 2017, Pope was compulsorily admitted under the Mental Health Act to the St Ann's mental health hospital in Poole, Dorset. Whilst here, another patient sexually harassed Pope and she reported this to staff on 28th February.[6] No action was taken after this harassment.[14] Two days after being admitted to the hospital, Pope was discharged, being assessed as low risk. No safeguarding referral or onward support was arranged.[11] Pope continued to engage with healthcare services in relation to her epilepsy. During this time she had significant seizures.[6]

In the summer of 2017, Pope was anxious and distressed about Hayes being released from prison. Hayes had been imprisoned for unrelated offences in April 2017 to two years in prison and given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) for five years.[15]

In October 2017, Pope suffered with her mental health, having a serious mental health crisis. Her mental health was assessed in hospital, however, despite her presentation of extreme distress, she was deemed to be low risk and not suffering an acute mental health disorder. As had happened before, she was discharged without any ongoing support.[11]

In Autumn 2017, Hayes was due to be released from prison and Pope had anxiety about this.[16]

In November 2017, a male sent sexually explicit images on Facebook to Pope. According to Pope's sister, this triggered memories of the rape in 2014.[9] Pope reported this to police and was going to attend a police station to discuss this on 7th November (the day that she went missing).[11]

November 8th:

On November 8th, Dorset Police publish their first appeal about the disappearance of Pope. They provided a description of Pope, stating they were concerned for her welfare and were searching the Purbeck area.[20]

November 9th:

On November 9th, Dorset Police issue a statement on behalf of Pope's family, in which they state they are 'frantic with worry' and desperate to know that she is ok. During the day, a Facebook group to help coordinate volunteers to help search for Pope reaches more than 3,000 people, with a crowdfunding campaign having raised £700.[20]

November 10th:

On November 10th, searches continued, which involved the Coastguard and police helicopter. Dorset Police released CCTV footage that showed Pope shortly before she disappeared, running along a pavement in Swanage. They updated the description of what Pope was wearing and it was reported that volunteers had searched areas between Weymouth, Dorset and Salisbury, Wiltshire, looking for Pope. Searches included vehicle stop checks.[20]

November 11th:

On November 11th, Pope's father Richard posted on social media, pleading for Pope to return. He stated that he had been keeping an eye on Pope's distraught twin sister Maya as well as the address of Pope's uncle in Bournemouth in case Pope turned up there. On behalf of him and Pope's mother, he thanked those trying to find Pope.[20]

November 12th:

On November 12th, Russell Brand tweeted supporting the search for Pope, with Jonathan Ross retweeting a related post.[20]

November 13th:

On November 13th, 19-year-old Nathan Elsey and 71-year-old Rosemary Dinch, who were both known to Pope, were arrested on suspicion of her murder.[18] Pope had attended Brockenhurst College with Elsey and had knocked on the door of Dinch on the day she disappeared.[5][19] Two addresses were searched in the Swanage area. Dorset Police reported that they thought Pope had 'come to harm'.[20]

November 14th:

On November 14th, Dinch and Elsey were released under investigation by Dorset Police. Dorset Police continued to appeal to the public for information, stating that the last confirmed sighting was still the CCTV from Morrison Road issued on November 10th.[20]

November 15th:

On November 15th, Dorset Police stated there was nothing to suggest that Pope had left the Purbeck area of Dorset. They published new CCTV images of Pope taken from Valley Road in Swanage. The CCTV images, from approximately 2:55pm on November 7th, less than an hour before Pope went missing, showing her going into St Michael's Garage, where she buys an ice cream prior to leaving.[20]

November 16th:

On November 16th, social media and national newspaper's reported that police had seized a car as part of the investigation and it was confirmed by Dorset Police that 'a number' of vehicles had been seized.[18] Pope's father made another appeal on ITV, whilst a lake near to Swanage was searched by officers. At 2:35pm that day, Dorset Police confirmed that woman's clothes had been found north of the coastal path in a field and that a cordon was in place. The clothes were located by a member of the public at 10:28am that day.[18] At 4:30pm, a male aged 49-years-old was arrested on suspicion of murder. Police reported that the male was known to Pope but did not confirm his identity. However, this was confirmed by the suspect's father, Greg Elsey, that his son Paul Elsey was the arrested male.[18] Paul Elsey was the son of Dinch and uncle of Nathan Elsey, who had been arrested earlier in the week.[20][18]

November 17th:

On November 17th, Pope's family called on the public to join them in a mass search of Swanage for Pope. Elsey was released under investigation by Dorset Police.[20]

November 18th:

On November 18th, at approximately 3pm, specialist search teams located a body. Whilst the body hadn't been formally identified, police were confident that it was Pope. Pope was discovered less than 300 metres from where the items of clothing were located on 16th November, near to the costal path and field.[20][11] Her body was found less than a mile from where she went missing.[11]

Hypothermia was given as the main medical cause of Pope's death. Griffin provided a narrative conclusion, stating that Pope died approximately between 15.59pm on 7th November 2017 and 10.00am on 8th November 2017. Griffin reported that Pope's mental health and mental state on 7th November, her 'acute situational crisis' and an epileptic seizure contributing to psychosis and Pope not being referred to either a crisis team or community mental health team when she was discharged from hospital on 22nd October 2017 were factors that either caused or contributed to Pope's death.[1][11]Griffin reported that Dorset Police and Dorset Healthcare University Trust missed a series of opportunities to support Pope.[11]

Whilst Griffin didn't allow the inquest jury to make a decision if failings from Dorset Police's search or the way they dealt with calls contributed to or caused Pope's death, critical evidence was heard, including Dorset Police admitting that there had been failings.[11] Dorset Police accepted that their response was 'deficient', with Griffin recording that the first 24 to 48 hours of their response was 'disorganised' lacking 'clear strategy, leadership and focus'.

Griffin recorded that Pope should have been treated as a missing person by Dorset Police sooner and that as soon as she was reported missing.[11] Despite Pope's aunt calling Dorset Police twice, once at 15:41 to report Pope having a mental health crisis and having run off, then again at 4:24pm to report Pope as a missing person, Dorset Police didn't complete a missing person report until 6:18pm.[6] It was only at 6:30pm that Pope was considered a missing person.[23] By this time, Pope's aunt had called police 5 times, with Pope's Mother had also having phoned police.[10]

It was later revealed that the call handler who received the call from Pope's aunt was not trained in responding to 101 calls or handling missing person incidents.[10]

At the time, Sergeant Sean Mallon was a supervisor in Wareham, Dorset. He was made aware that Pope had been reported missing, however, he did not deploy police officers or hand over the missing person incident when his shift ended at 11:30pm.[23] Mallon's lawyer at the hearing said that Mallon had only acted up as a Sergeant on four occasions previously to Pope going missing and explained that he had 'no experience or training in supervising a missing persons enquiry'.[24] As a result of this, Sergeant Mallon faced a misconduct preceding and received a final written warning by Dorset Police's Professional Standards Department.

Griffin recorded that Pope's risk as a missing person should have been 'high', with a number of witnesses also testifying this.[11][25] However, Pope's risk was initially graded as 'medium'. This meant that external specialist resources, including Dorset Search & Rescue (DorSAR) and HM Coastguard were delayed in being tasked to assist the search.[6] It was only at approximately 1:30am on 8th November that a police inspector working in the control room upgraded the risk.[25]

Detective Inspector Phillip Swanton told the inquest that policy dictated an experienced detective should have reviewed the incident as soon as Pope was graded as a high-risk missing person in order for important lines of enquiry to be established. However, the case wasn't reviewed until more than 16 hours had passed, when DI Swanton was on-call.

When DI Swanton carried out the review, he found that all the relevant information required for a missing person investigation hadn't been gathered at that point.[25] It is likely that information would have been missed, as officers hadn't carried out the missing person booklet to establish important information on Pope, including her health, behaviour and significant locations related to her.[6] Many officers assumed that this booklet had been completed, when it hadn't been.[10]

Information was difficult to ascertain and officers faced confusion due to missing person logs in relation to the search for Pope being corrupted and duplicated. A number of officers didn't document searches or enquiries they'd completed when Pope's risk was upgraded. This meant that actions, including what was outstanding, were difficult to track. This included difficulty to confirm what areas had been searched on 7th and 8th November as the missing person log was not updated effectively.[6][10]

PC David Taylor was the deputy search coordinator for the search for Pope. After Pope's body was found, PC Taylor added details to Dorset Police's search logs. Whilst it was suggested by counsel to the inquest, Sarah Clarke QC, that PC Taylor did this to make the police search look better, PC Taylor stated he had do it to 'provide a fuller picture of what happened', not to be deceitful. Amongst other details, PC Taylor added a note stating that a helicopter searching might not have found Pope due to 'pockets of dense vegetation'. None of the entries that PC Taylor made made reference to them being retrospective entries.[6][26]

Dorset Healthcare University Trust (DHUT) admitted additional failings, such as missing opportunities when Pope was discharged from hospital on 22nd October 2017 to refer her for mental health support, despite her having been in mental health crisis. Furthermore, there was a missed opportunity to communicate with Pope's neurology/epilepsy team.[11] Amongst other issues, mental healthcare professionals with DHUT documented on Pope's healthcare records that her sexual assault was a 'delusion'.[6] Furthermore, they thought that it was a 'hoax' or a 'fabricated illness'. A mental health professional at St Ann's mental health hospital referred to Hayes as Pope's 'boyfriend', despite this being a man who had groomed, drugged and raped Pope when she was a child.[10]