Gaia Pope: Teen was terrified of alleged rapist, inquest told

A teenager found dead on a clifftop had become "terrified" of a man she accused of raping her, an inquest has heard.

The body of 19-year-old Gaia Pope was discovered following a major search operation 11 days after she went missing in Swanage, Dorset, in 2017.

She received messages threatening to kill her family from a man she said had raped her before she went missing, her twin told Dorset Coroner's Court.

Miss Pope, who suffered with severe epilepsy, died of hypothermia.

The college student had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after revealing she had been raped when she was 16, the inquest in Bournemouth has previously heard.

Her twin sister, Maya Pope, told jurors her sister was worried about the imminent released from prison of the man she said attacked her. The man had been jailed for sex offences against other girls.

"I just know she was absolutely terrified to go out in Swanage, and she had shown me messages from the perpetrator saying that he knew people in Swanage and threatening to kill the family and she just became so terrified to leave the house," she said.

Describing phone calls she had with her sister on the day she disappeared, she said: "She was crying and saying she was very scared, and she thought the perpetrator was after her."

Maya Pope added that her sister's epilepsy and mental health had both been deteriorating in the two years before her death.

"She would hallucinate, start fitting and turn blue and all of her muscles would contract," she told jurors.

"We often had to call ambulances to the house. She told me she was starting to feel really scared, terrified."

The inquest continues.

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