Gaia Pope: Sexual comments made to teen on psychiatric ward, inquest told

A teenager who reported being raped was put on a mixed psychiatric ward where she was subjected to sexual remarks, an inquest has heard.

Gaia Pope, 19, was staying at a Dorset Healthcare-run unit when the inappropriate comments were made to her by a male patient in February 2017.

She died of hypothermia on a clifftop in Swanage almost nine months later.

Dorset Coroner's Court previously heard that Miss Pope had been missing for 11 days when her body was found.

The inquest in Bournemouth was told she had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act after having a severe epileptic seizure, leading to "acute confusion" that was compounded by cannabis use.

Miss Pope's disappearance prompted a major search and rescue operation

Dr Dinesh Kannan, her psychiatrist, said that during her eight-day stay at St Ann's Hospital in Poole a male patient "tried to engage her in sexually inappropriate conversations".

"I'm deeply sorry for what Gaia had to endure in that experience," he told the jury.

"It is a peril of the mixed ward that the assessment ward was at the time."

He added that more safeguarding measures should have been considered for Miss Pope.

Gaia Pope's body was found 11 days after she went missing in November 2017

Dr Kannan said she also suffered with post-traumatic stress disorder, which was associated with a rape she had reported, but that was not at the "forefront" of her symptoms at the time.

The inquest has previously been told that Miss Pope had been "anxious" before she went missing near her home on 7 November, due to the imminent release from prison of the man she said had attacked her.

The inquest continues.