Gaia Pope

Gaia Kima Pope-Sutherland (2 July 1998 – 7-8 November 2017) was a British teenager who went missing in November 2017 at age 19. Her body was found 11 days after her disappearance.

Background

Early life Gaia Pope was born on 2 July 1998 in Swanage, Dorset, to Richard Sutherland and Kim Pope. She had a twin sister, Maya, as well as an older sister, Clara. She attended Brockenhurst College.

2013-2015 In 2013, Gaia Pope was provisionally diagnosed with epilepsy. In the following months and years, she received further appointments, diagnosis, and treatment for it.

In 2014, when Gaia was 16 years old, she began speaking online with Connor Hayes, then age 22, from Bournemouth, Dorset. He was already under investigation by Dorset Police for unrelated matters and was a known child sex offender. As a result of the incident, her mental and physical health declined.

In December 2015, Gaia disclosed the offences to her family and mental health professionals. In her first mental health crisis, she was admitted to a hospital on 15 December. However, she felt that the rape allegation was not believed by some health professionals, as her healthcare records referred to her having "delusions of sexual assault". On 29 November 2016, Gaia engaged with community mental health services after being referred for psychiatric assessment. Two days after her report, Gaia was discharged, being assessed as low risk. No safeguarding referral or onward support was arranged. She was also under increased stress due to the removal of her Personal Independence Payments (PIP), which were returned in full following a lengthy appeals process.

In October 2017, Gaia suffered a severe mental health crisis. Her mental health was assessed in hospital. However, despite her presentation of extreme distress, she was deemed to be low-risk and not suffering from an acute mental health disorder. As had happened previously, she was discharged without any ongoing support.

In the autumn of 2017, Gaia experienced extreme stress due to fears that Hayes was due to be released from prison. Dorset Police were contacted by her aunt at 3:42 pm, who reported concerns for her welfare, describing Gaia as having "some sort of episode". This information was added to the log for the incident Gaia had previously reported regarding being sent sexually explicit images earlier that month. Due to this, no missing person report was taken, including no risk assessment and officers not being dispatched to make enquiries. Her aunt called Dorset Police again at 4:24 pm to report Gaia as missing. Dinch stated that Gaia was not making sense, describing her as sweaty and that she had stripped to her underwear before getting dressed. Dinch described that Gaia left looking "panicked" in the direction of the high street.

Search and investigation Dorset Police, HM Coastguard, the National Police Air Service (NPAS) and volunteers from Dorset Search & Rescue (DorSAR) were involved in the search for Gaia. 9 November Dorset Police issued a statement on behalf of Pope's family, in which they stated they were "frantic with worry" and desperate to know that she was okay. During the day, a Facebook group created to help coordinate volunteers to help search for Pope reached more than 3,000 people, with a crowdfunding campaign having raised £700.

The post-mortem examination later revealed the cause of Gaia's death was hypothermia. It was believed by an entomologist that the latest Gaia had been alive was 9 November 2017.

Gaia's private funeral was held in Poole, Dorset on 8 December 2017, attended by friends and family.

Inquest An inquest was held before a jury and HM Senior Coroner Rachael Griffin between 26 June and 15 July 2022, at Bournemouth Coroner's Court. By this time, Gaia's aunt had called police five times, with Gaia's mother also having called the police. As a result of this, Sergeant Mallon faced misconduct proceedings and received a final written warning by Dorset Police's Professional Standards Department.

Risk assessment incorrectly grading Pope as a "medium" risk missing person Griffin recorded that Gaia's risk as a missing person should have been "high", with a number of witnesses also testifying this. However, Gaia's risk was initially graded as "medium". This meant that external specialist resources, including Dorset Search & Rescue (DorSAR) and HM Coastguard were delayed in being tasked to assist the search.

Legacy A candlelit vigil was held in Swanage following the discovery of her body and in May 2018 a music festival was held in her honour. Her family also launched a campaign for art to be made in her honour.

In July 2023, a BBC documentary about Gaia was broadcast, presented by Zara McDermott.