Gaia Pope: Police sergeant admits mistakes in missing teen search

A police officer has admitted at an inquest into the death of teenager Gaia Pope that he made multiple mistakes on the night she disappeared.

Sean Mallon was acting up as a sergeant when he was made aware the 19-year-old had been reported missing from her home in Swanage, Dorset, in November 2017.

Mr Mallon told Dorset Coroner's Court there were two PCs available he should have deployed and that he did not hand over the case at the end of his shift.

Miss Pope was found dead 11 days later.

The jury in Bournemouth heard Mr Mallon was given a final warning by Dorset Police over his conduct in the case and that he has since retired from the force.

Mr Mallon, who was a PC, said he was acting up as sergeant for the fifth time in his career when Miss Pope was reported missing by her family on the afternoon of 7 November.

He said the teenager, who had mental health problems and severe epilepsy, was considered to be a missing person by 18:30 GMT and that there were two PCs working until 20:00 he could have deployed.

"I should have tasked them to go down to Swanage and search the area," he told the court.

"I assumed if they had no other jobs they would have gone down to Swanage - I should not have made that assumption."

The court heard PC Jon Kuspert was the only police officer to search for the teenager on the day she went missing.

Under questioning from the coroner, Mr Mallon admitted he did not tell any other officers about Miss Pope when he finished his shift at 23:30.

Mr Mallon said his conduct had been "wrong" and agreed with the coroner that he "didn't do anything in relation to Gaia's case".

Earlier the court heard officers did not make door-to-door inquiries on the day after she went missing.

Sgt Simon Colvin, who was a PC at the time, said he was tasked with searching a 300m area in Swanage and "can't remember" if he had access to a photo of Miss Pope.

He added that no "big record" was kept of that first search, which he said involved about 12 officers looking on roads and peering into gardens.

The inquest in Bournemouth has previously been told that Miss Pope had been "anxious" before she went missing due to the imminent release from prison of the man she said had raped her.

A post-mortem examination found she died of hypothermia.

The inquest continues.

Follow BBC South on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].