Gaia Pope: Police watchdog report on teen's death published

A police watchdog report on how a force handled the search for missing teenager Gaia Pope has been published four years after being completed.

The 19-year-old's body was found in undergrowth near clifftops 11 days after disappearing from her home in Swanage, Dorset, in November 2017.

She had died of hypothermia.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) completed its report in 2019 on Dorset Police's search and had previously only released a summary.

However the full report, which recommended improvements to search procedures and how complaints were handled, was published earlier on Tuesday.

The IOPC concluded the police search should have been better organised and coordinated - particularly in the first 24 hours - and that Miss Pope's disappearance should have been given a higher initial risk assessment.

However, it said it did not identify "any evidence to suggest that a more concentrated approach would have resulted in Gaia being found alive".

Miss Pope had reported being raped when she was 16 - an allegation that did not lead to a prosecution - by a man who was later convicted of sexual offences against other women.

On the day she disappeared, the teenager felt anxious after being told of her alleged attacker's release from prison.

An inquest jury last year recorded a narrative conclusion and cited mental health and a lack of medical after-care as contributing factors to her death.

But relatives told the coroner that she felt police did not believe her when she reported being raped and complained about the investigation.

The IOPC said this formed part of its inquiries and that it found "performance issues for four officers" but there was "no case to answer for misconduct".

Richard Sutherland, Miss Pope's father, said he was "surprised" it had taken "so long" for the report to be published.

"I understand the IOPC pick and choose which reports they do publish online - it would be speculation to suggest they may not have wished to publish this one," he added.

An IOPC spokesperson said it had shared the investigation report with the coroner, Miss Pope's family and Dorset Police ahead of last year's inquest and could not release it before in order not to prejudice proceedings.

They added: "We wrote to Gaia's family before the inquest to ask for their views on the publication of the report once those proceedings had concluded.

"We would always consider the views of bereaved families and other interested parties before publishing a full report in these circumstances. Perhaps entirely understandably we didn't receive their views on publication and so we didn't publish the report at that time.

"Following the BBC's request, we contacted the interested parties again, and after considering their feedback, we have been in a position to publish the redacted report today."

Dorset Police said it would not be making any further comment.

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