Gaia Pope: Man accused of rape jailed again

At the time of the offences Connor Hayes was working as a webcam model selling videos and live footage of himself engaging in sexual acts, Dorset Police said

A sex offender who Gaia Pope accused of rape has been jailed for a second time.

Miss Pope, 19, was found dead 11 days after being reported missing from her home near Swanage, Dorset, last November.

It is understood she alleged she was raped by Connor Hayes two years earlier. Dorset Police investigated but decided to take no further action.

Hayes, 25, was jailed last month for 21 months after pleading guilty to two offences involving a teenage girl.

Appearing at Bournemouth Crown Court, Hayes, from Maidstone, admitted causing or inciting a child aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity and causing a child aged 13 to 15 to watch a sexual act.

'Unending pain'

Dorset Police is being investigated over the way it handled the previous rape allegation by Miss Pope and her disappearance.

In a statement posted after Hayes' sentencing, her family said it would not comment directly on his case while the The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) continued its investigation.

However, they did ask that "anyone with any relevant information come forward to us or to the IOPC".

"Whatever happens, this all comes too late to save Gaia and save us the unending pain of life without her; but we are determined to do all we can to see others protected and justice done," they said.

"All we can do is wait, thank our friends and our community for their continued support and assure anyone out there who perhaps, like Gaia, feels ignored and afraid, that they are not alone."

Gaia Pope's body was found 11 days after she went missing from Swanage

Dorset Police refused to confirm or deny whether Hayes had been investigated in connection with Miss Pope's allegations.

At the time of the most recent offence, the force said, he was working as a webcam model selling videos and live footage of himself engaging in sexual acts.

During sentencing on 26 November, Hayes was also placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years. A previous sexual harm prevention order was extended to 2028 and amended to stop him from contacting girls aged under 16.

In December 2016 he was jailed for two years after he admitted taking an indecent moving image of a child, possession of indecent images of a child and paying for the sexual services of a child, Dorset Police said.