Pope’s family have compiled a list of more than 50 opportunities they say police and health and social care professionals missed to support the 19-year-old, whose body was found 11 days after she disappeared from the seaside town of Swanage. The senior coroner for Dorset, Rachel Griffin, said she would write to health minister Steve Barclay, two Dorset healthcare trusts, Dorset Police and six other organizations to express her concern that there is still a risk of more deaths people in similar circumstances. Priest. “I have concerns that there could be future deaths,” he said. Pope, who suffered from epilepsy, disappeared on November 7, 2017 as she feared a man who allegedly raped her was about to be released from prison and was soon after sent lewd images of another man, which relatives say triggered her post-traumatic stress disorder . disorder. The coroner highlighted deep concerns about the level of funding for epilepsy care, communication between different health bodies and how health professionals protect people who are sexually assaulted or harassed in hospital. The coroner also said she would call for more training for staff on how to ensure patients are referred to mental health care in the community. Griffin said she would write to Dorset Police chief constable Scott Chilton about the force’s missing persons policies and how it handles and rates calls, allocates resources and keeps records. Following the investigation, the Independent Office for Policing Conduct revealed it had flagged “performance issues or learning opportunities” for 14 officers and staff during the search for the Pope, and one sergeant was disciplined. He said he found “performance issues” for four officers related to the rape allegation, but found no case to answer for misconduct. The coroner’s court in Bournemouth, which sat for 43 days and heard 78 witnesses, recorded that Dorset University NHS Trust Healthcare missed opportunities to help Pope in the month before she died when it failed to refer her for support for her serious mental health problems health. since then she was allegedly raped when she was 16 years old. Reaching a narrative conclusion, the jury said Pope likely died between 3:59 p.m. on November 7, 2017 and 10 a.m. on November 8, 2017, from hypothermia. The jury said: “Gaia’s death was probably caused by her mental health and state of mind on November 7.” The foreman of the jury said the panel wanted to express its “sincere condolences” to Pope’s family. “It touched us all,” she said. Addressing the family, the coroner said: “I can’t imagine what you’ve been through.” Jurors also noted failures in the police investigation into Pope, whose body was found in bushland less than a mile from a beauty spot called Dancing Ledge, which her family had told police was a key part of to focus because of his family connections. Chilton admitted the inquiry was “disorganized and lacked a clear strategy, leadership and focus”. Pope’s family believes she was alive long enough and could have been saved if the search operation had been better. Pope was devastated after the man who claimed to have raped her was not prosecuted. He was jailed for other sex offenses against girls and Pope’s family say the inquiry has revealed serious failings in how rape allegations are investigated and how survivors are protected, as well as huge gaps in the provision of mental health care. The Pope’s cousin Marienna Pope-Weidemann said: “It’s overwhelming to deal with this number of things that have gone wrong. Vulnerable people are at the bottom of the list in public services and misogyny runs deep. Gaia spent the last two years of her life wanting anyone outside of her family, friends and community to come forward for her. This never happened. She was isolated, stigmatized, ignored, sidelined.” The family are launching a petition calling on Dorset Police to make changes, including investing in a specialist rape and serious sexual offenses unit (Rasso), staffed by officers who are properly trained to investigate abuse and support survivors. The coroner said she would write to the College of Policing to call for national training on how to help people who have suffered sexual trauma and those with epilepsy and mental health conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder. Inquest, the charity which supported the Pope’s family, described the inquest as “unprecedented”. Its director, Deborah Coles, said: “Gaia’s death is part of a wider pattern of deaths of survivors of sexual violence, who are being systematically failed by public services. There are so many clear issues that come out of this survey that speak to problems across the country. These include institutional misogyny in the criminal justice system, which consistently fails and further harms survivors, alongside health and social services that are disconnected, poorly resourced and inadequately equipped to offer holistic and specialist trauma support to women. Gaia’s death and the damning evidence of this inquest should be a wake-up call to public services in Dorset and nationally.” Lucy Nevitt, from the Gemini Project, which campaigns to end sexual violence, said: “Gaia has been failed in every way imaginable by the services that should have been able to help her both in life and to death. Her case clearly shows the devastating impact our fragmented and underfunded public services have on an individual and ultimately their health, independence, safety and ability to live.” Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST
