Gaia Pope inquest: What we've learnt four weeks into teen's case

Pathologists, entomologists, police staff and officers and Ms Pope’s family have all given evidence and jury members have been taken to the site her body and clothes were found.

Ms Pope, 19, went missing from Swanage on November 7, 2017, and wasn’t found until 11 days later in undergrowth on a clifftop near Dancing Ledge.

On the first day of the inquest, 11 jurors were sworn in and introduced to the case by senior coroner Rachael Griffin.

The hearing heard Ms Pope was diagnosed with epilepsy in 2013 and in December 2015 disclosed to her family she had been raped the previous year.

The alleged rapist was not charged but did serve a prison term for a separate offence, at the time Ms Pope went missing she was “anxious” about his imminent release.

On November 2, 2017, Ms Pope phoned police to report receiving indecent images online and it was arranged she would meet at Wareham Police Station on November 7 to make a formal complaint.

She went missing later that day.

Research entomologist Martin Hall told the hearing it was likely Ms Pope died between November 7 and November 9.

By studying blow fly larvae from Ms Pope’s body, Mr Hall was able to create a time frame for when the eggs were laid.

Mr Hall confirmed, on the balance of probabilities, based on the laying of the eggs, the last time Ms Pope would have been alive was between 4pm on November 7 and dusk on November 9.Yeah th

The jury then heard that hypothermia could have caused the teen to “hide and die”.

Forensic pathologist Dr Ruddell Delaney said Ms Pope died of hypothermia and could have been experiencing paradoxical undressing, feeling hot and confusion as a result of it, which could explain why she was naked.

He said hypothermia could have also resulted in her experiencing “hide and die behaviour”, where someone suffering from hypothermia burrows into a closed space.

Ms Pope’s older sister Clara Pope-Sutherland told the hearing aspects of the police search for her “didn’t make sense”.

She said: “We had racked our brains trying to think where she could possibly be.

“It didn’t seem like they were not listening – not at least to me – but there were certain aspects of the things they were saying and focusing on that didn’t make much sense to me, despite my comments.

“I had said on multiple times and commented on the significance of the Dancing Ledge walk.

“In my mind, it didn’t make much sense that she would be anywhere else other than trying to be there and being close with him, my grandfather.”

Ms Pope-Sutherland said she drew a map for officers showing where in Dancing Ledge her sister could be. The map was not recorded by police.

The inquest was played a number of phone calls from Ms Pope’s aunt Talia Pope on November 6 and 7, when she tried to ascertain details of the meeting at Wareham Police Station.

An officer said “I have no idea what she’s on about” and thought Talia Pope was “taking the p***”.

It was then heard that the 101 call handler who took calls from Talia Pope when her niece ran from the address in Swanage had no prior training handling such calls.

Lucinda Williams, the call handler, said “why would I want to do that” when asked why she didn’t search for Gaia Pope when her aunt phoned at 4.37pm on November 7.

Had she have done she would have found information from the 19-year-old’s calls on November 2 which would have helped her decide if Gaia Pope was a missing person or concern for welfare.

A control room supervisor for Dorset Police conceded “nobody got to grips” with the investigation.

Andrew Mustoe said the case was a “textbook example” of why systems had to change and said she should have been recorded as a missing person three hours before she actually was.

A total of seven logs were created between November 2, 2017, when Ms Pope first phoned to report receiving nude photos, until her being found on November 18.

“This has been passed from officer to officer to officer for someone to gain a grip and it hasn't happened,” he said.

And police officer Jon Kuspert told the jury he did everything he could to search for Ms Pope after she went missing and said he was “surprised” at initially being refused assistance from the National Police Air Service.

PC Kuspert arranged the meeting at Wareham and expected the female officer stationed there to deal with it.

After returning from leave on November 7, he was “surprised” nothing had been done with the case.

The inquest continues.