Gaia Pope: Police thought aunt of teen was 'talking rubbish' in calls, inquest hears

A police officer thought the aunt of Gaia Pope was "talking absolute rubbish" as she made a series of calls to police hours before the teenager went missing, an inquest has heard.

Talia Pope was trying to arrange for her niece to speak to an officer on 7 November 2017, about an allegation of receiving indecent images via Facebook.

She told the inquest the images triggered the 19-year-old's anxiety.

Her body was found near her home in Swanage 11 days after she went missing.

She died of hypothermia.

The inquest in Bournemouth was played a number of calls made by Talia Pope to Dorset Police, and of a conversation between a call handler and an officer at Wareham Police Station.

The officer replied: "This is the fifth call I've had. The last call ended with them talking absolute rubbish.

"I have no idea who they are, what they are on about, and they started calling me a drag queen so I decided at that point to hang up."

He added: "If they are there, put them through and I'll see if I can get some more sense out of them."

The jury also heard officers could not find any records of earlier calls because they were searching on the system for "Gaia Hope".

In a call made shortly after midday on 7 November, Talia Pope was told by the call handler that an officer would ring her on her mobile phone about the complaint to arrange a meeting at her home, or a police station.

Talia Pope told the inquest: "[Gaia's] anxiety soared, and she was absolutely obsessed with being actively listened to about the images and making a formal report about them."

She added she wanted to confirm the details of the meeting with police as she could see the "pressure building up" for her niece.

Talia Pope told the jury her behaviour that morning was "chaotic" and "highly sexualised".

She called Dorset Police again at 18:15 GMT to make a formal missing person report, telling the inquest she was "a bit thrown" by the formal procedure and thought she had reported her niece missing earlier.

"I was panicking," she said, adding: "She was lost, she was vulnerable. I just felt she was in danger."

The inquest was previously told Gaia Pope had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and had been "anxious" before she went missing, due to the imminent release from prison of a man she said had raped her.

Talia Pope told the inquest police "failed to listen or prioritise" her concerns about her niece's PTSD, epilepsy and the fact she had gone out without her medication.

The inquest continues.

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