A FULL report into the death of missing teenager Gaia Pope has been published four years after it was completed by a police watchdog. 

Miss Pope, 19, first went missing on November 7, 2017, in Swanage and was found dead 11 days later in undergrowth on a clifftop near Dancing Ledge less than a mile away. She had died of hypothermia. 

She had run away from home having been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after reporting that she had been drugged and sexually attacked by a man when she was 16. 

At the time of her disappearance, she was anxious about his imminent release from prison for unconnected sexual offences. 

Now, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has published its full report four years after it was completed and handed over to Dorset Police. 

The investigation found that a Wareham-based former police constable “may have breached the police standards of professional behaviour in relation to duties and responsibilities”.

Read more: Gaia Pope inquest: Everything we've learnt over last 12 weeks

The officer, who was acting sergeant at the time, “may have failed to conduct an adequate handover before finishing his shift”. 

But the report added that he had said he “believed he had dealt with the incident to the best of his abilities, but that, with hindsight, he believed he could have handled the incident better.  

“He stated that any failings were due to inexperience and lack of training.” 

In the months after the report, the report said 147 police officers and staff had received missing persons decision-maker training. 

It also did not find “evidence to suggest that a more concentrated approach to these additional lines of enquiry might have resulted in Gaia being found alive”. 

Read more: Gaia Pope inquest: Dorset Police search 'didn't make sense'

The report, which heard from more than 100 witnesses, added: “Nor did our investigation identify any notable individual or organisational failings in these areas.” 

And, that the decision-maker will set out her views on the investigation findings in a separate opinion document.

"She will also decide whether any organisational learning has been identified that should be shared with the organisation in question," it adds.

The jury of a 12-week inquest held at Bournemouth Town Hall last year found her mental health and mental state “caused or contributed” to her death. 

Senior coroner for Dorset Rachael Griffin, who presided over the inquest, said she would be writing to the chief constable at the time, Scott Chilton, expressing her “concerns” about training around concern for welfare and missing person policies. 

Dorset Police has been approached for a comment.