Gaia Pope family criticise coroner as inquest ends

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

The family of Gaia Pope have criticised the coroner after the jury at her inquest was told the police could not be blamed for her death.

A narrative conclusion citing the 19-year-old's mental health and a lack of medical after-care was returned.

Coroner Rachael Griffin told the jury not to consider the accepted police failings as contributory factors.

Cousin Marienna Pope-Weidemann said it was a "shocking indictment" of the inquest system.

The teenager's family also criticised the police after the inquest found she died from hypothermia hours after running away from her home while suffering a mental health crisis.

They said Dorset Police failed the teenager when she reported she had been raped and also failed her in the first two days after she went missing in Swanage in November 2017 - her body was found 11 days later.

Police searches were criticised by Miss Pope's family

Miss Pope-Weidemann hit out at the decision of senior coroner Rachael Griffin to direct the jury not to consider the accepted police failings as contributory factors in her death.

"It is a shocking indictment of the inquest system that before the inquest even started so much of Gaia's story was excluded and then later that the majority of evidence heard by the jury, including the police failures in the search, was taken off the table for them to consider at all," she said.

"We remain concerned this was not the full and fearless investigation we were promised, and perhaps that is the single greatest opportunity, missed.

"A few missed opportunities might be human error, this many are not."

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

Dorset Police's chief constable Scott Chilton accepted earlier there were several failures made in the search for Miss Pope.

Dorset Police said it was "truly sorry" Gaia and her family did not receive better treatment in the 48 hours following her disappearance.

In a statement it said it recognised it "should have done much better" in how it dealt with the case.

It said since her death it had worked to "ensure we have the right framework in place so we can respond promptly and effectively when someone is reported missing".