Gaia Pope's family call for alleged rapist review

The family of Gaia Pope-Sutherland are calling for an independent investigation into her alleged rape.

Miss Pope, 19, was found dead 11 days after she went missing in Swanage, Dorset, in 2017 having been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Her family said her disorder was caused when she was drugged and sexually attacked by a man at 16 years old.

The police watchdog said it would consider any new complaints referred to it over Miss Pope's case.

Miss Pope's cousin Marienna Pope-Weidemann said Miss Pope reported the offence after suffering a mental health crisis triggered by the experience.

Dorset Police chose not to pursue the report, Ms Pope-Weidemann said.

She added: "I think the decision to take no further action on Gaia's rape case was devastating for her and why she was so concerned about it was because we knew there were other victims.

"In terms of the police over the next two years what we saw was a consistent and repeated failure to recognise her vulnerability.

"We are calling for a real independent investigation because it is absolutely in the public interest for us all to understand how this could be allowed to happen."

Ms Pope-Weidemann said the police had discriminated against Miss Pope by allegedly hanging up on her when she called them on the day she went missing.

"Even on the very day Gaia went missing, she had contact with the police, she was showing clear signs of being in an acute mental health crisis," she said.

"Not only did they not take any action, they discriminated against and hung up on her."

The family also alleged that during Miss Pope's submission to hospital, "she had been repeatedly sexually harassed by another male patient".

"She disclosed that to staff, and not only did they fail to take appropriate safeguarding action, they didn't even log the incident," Ms Pope-Weidemann said.

As part of the family's Justice for Gaia campaign, the family are demanding changes including improved funding for mental health services and the creation of a specialist unit dedicated to investigating rape and sexual offences across all police forces in the UK.

"We want to see police forces bringing in the 'Gaia Principle' to make sure when they get reports of serious sex offences they are obliged to check for other similar allegations from other potential victims and to present all those cases together as a whole to the Crown Prosecution Service," Ms Pope-Weidemann said.

Failing to follow the process should be a police misconduct matter.

The campaign also includes a manifesto for change across mental health and social support in Dorset and nationwide.

An inquest into Miss Pope-Sutherland's death found she had died of hypothermia within 18 hours of going missing on 7 November 2017. Her body was found 11 days later in undergrowth between Dancing Ledge and Anvil Point.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it previously investigated complaints from Miss Pope's family about how Dorset Police dealt with the allegation of rape.

The watchdog said it provided the family with terms of reference at the start of the investigation in 2018 and "no issues or concerns were raised with the investigation's scope then, or at any subsequent meeting".

Following Miss Pope's family's latest call for an independent investigation, a spokesperson for the IOPC said: "We have had no direct approach from Gaia Pope's family concerning any wider review.

"Any new complaint referred to us would be considered and assessed as to what further action may be required by the IOPC."

The watchdog said it "carefully" examined how Dorset Police investigated the rape allegation.

But it added: "While we found the police investigation could have been more thorough, any failings by individual officers did not amount to breaches of the professional standards of behaviour.

"We found performance issues for four officers for some inadequacies, including not contacting all witnesses, not submitting intelligence reports and insufficient record-keeping. "

The IOPC said it established that Dorset Police did informally speak to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) about the rape investigation, "but there was insufficient evidence to merit a formal referral to them".

In a statement an IOPC spokesperson added: "However, we did find that Dorset Police failed to advise Gaia's family of the Victims' Right to Review (VRR) following their decision not to refer to the CPS.

"We established that the closing code used to finalise the investigation on police systems did not tally with search terms used by the Victims' Bureau to identify cases suitable for VRR.

"Consequently, the bureau did not write to the family to inform them of their right to request a review of the decision to take no further action in respect of the rape report."

The IOPC recommended Dorset Police ensured its officers knew the search terms used by the bureau.

"This recommendation was accepted by the force and will go some way to reducing the risk of the same happening to other victims in such circumstances in the future," the IOPC said.

Dorset Police said it recognised that its immediate response to the missing person enquiry should have been better managed.

The force's Deputy Chief Constable Sam de Reya said that since Miss Pope's death and the IOPC's investigation the force had delivered "many changes" to its ways of working and has introduced dedicated missing people teams.

"We are absolutely committed to supporting victims of sexual offences and we are continuing to work with colleagues in the Crown Prosecution Service to improve the services offered to those who report rape and other serious sexual offences," Ms De Reya said.

In a statement, she added: "We take reports of rape offences extremely seriously and will do all we can to ensure offences are thoroughly investigated and offenders are brought to justice. We want victims to know that we are here for you.

"We would strongly encourage anyone who has been the victim of a sexual offence to come forward and report it to the force."

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