The police watchdog is to investigate how a force dealt with a rape allegation made by a teenager two years before she vanished from a seaside town.

Gaia Pope’s family believe that her disappearance and death in Dorset in November was triggered by concerns that her alleged attacker was about to be released.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is already investigating how Dorset police handled the search for the 19-year-old woman.

Pope’s body was found 11 days after she vanished without her medication for epilepsy a mile from Swanage, where she was last seen. A postmortem examination concluded she had died of hypothermia.

Pope’s family welcomed the new IOPC investigation, saying the alleged rape and the way it was investigated had a profound impact on her.

Pope’s disappearance from Swanage on 7 November prompted a huge search by the police, the teenager’s family and thousands of members of the public. Three members of the same family were initially arrested on suspicion of her murder.

Pope’s body was found on 18 November close to a craggy stretch of coast and near to where some of her clothes were discovered two days before. The three suspects were released when a postmortem examination found no indication anyone else was involved.

Her family, who are being supported by the charity Inquest, have said she was worried about the impending release from prison of a man she had claimed had raped her when she was 17. He was not charged over the allegation, but was jailed for a sexual offence not connected to Pope.

Richard Sutherland, Pope’s father, said: “We need to know if more could have been done to make Gaia feel safe and protect the public. Nothing can bring her back to us but a thorough, transparent and unbiased investigation will help us move forwards. We need to know the truth.”

Maya Pope-Sutherland, Pope’s sister, said: “It feels like we’ve been screaming in a vacuum for a long time but now we will break the silence. I hope our search for answers can open the door to positive change and help other survivors be heard and get justice. It’s what Gaia would have wanted.”

Marienna Pope-Weidemann, Pope’s cousin, said: “Gaia fell through the cracks in that system and she died there. Some nights I can’t sleep, can’t breathe, I miss her so much. We all do.”

At the opening of Pope’s inquest in Bournemouth in February, Rachael Griffin, the senior coroner for Dorset, said she would be requesting statements from Pope’s family, her GP, the Dorset HealthCare University NHS foundation trust, Dorset police and a neurologist who provided care to Pope.









