isting teen Gaia Pope-Sutherland died of hypothermia after running away from her home while suffering a mental health crisis, an investigative jury has concluded.
The teen, who suffered from severe epilepsy, was reported missing from her Swanage home, Dorseton Nov 7, 2017.
A search has been launched in the Swanage area for the 19-year-old, including police, HM Coastguard, National Police Air ServiceDorset Search and Rescue and members of the public.
Her body was found on November 18 by police teams in the undergrowth between Dancing Ledge and Anvil Point, close to Swanage’s coastal path.
A post-mortem examination revealed that Miss Pope-Sutherland, who had been discovered in deep undergrowth, had died of hypothermia. An entomologist said he believed the last she had alive was November 9.
Her clothing was found scattered across a field as if she had taken it off as she walked and she may have suffered “paradoxically undressing” when she succumbed to hypothermia.
After deliberating for a day and a half, the jury unanimously concluded that Miss Pope-Sutherland had died of hypothermia at some point between 3:59 PM on November 7, 2017 and 10:00 AM on November 8, which was “probably caused by her mental health.” . and mental state on November 7, 2017”.
During the 11-week investigation, jurors at Dorset Coroner’s Court in Bournemouth heard evidence from 78 witnesses.
The teen was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after she revealed she had been drugged and raped by a man when she was 16.
At the time of her disappearance, she was concerned about his imminent release from prison for unrelated sex crimes and had experienced “ongoing manic episodes” — fearing that he was “after her.”
The student had also reported receiving indecent images from another man via Facebook to the police and would make a formal statement the day she disappeared.
Miss Pope-Sutherland, who was a regular cannabis user, appeared “restless” on November 7, leaving her aunt Talia Pope’s home in Swanage at 3:40pm. The last known sighting was on Priest’s Road a short time later.
The judicial inquiry heard the chief of police of Dorset police had accepted that there were several shortcomings in the pursuit of Miss Pope-Sutherland.
Many members of the teen’s family told police to search the area where her body was later found, as it was a favorite spot of her late grandfather.
Her mother, Kim Pope, tried to report her missing and her aunt called Dorset police five times in the hours after she ran away, but police didn’t register an official missing person report until 6:15 p.m.
She was then rated as ‘medium risk of injury’ and only upgraded to ‘high risk’ nine hours after she disappeared.
It meant the search for Miss Pope-Sutherland was slowly getting off the ground, with an officer searching the center of Swanage that evening and a police helicopter combing the Dorset coast.
Additional officers were not deployed, and a specialized police detective and senior officers were not informed.
A 300-meter search for where she was last seen did not begin until the next day and from the wrong location, with officers “calling for help”, the inquest heard.
The teen’s father, Richard Sutherland, questioned whether police had committed enough resources to locate his daughter in the first 48 hours and should have searched the area of Dancing Ledge earlier.
The inquest also learned that a police search coordinator retroactively changed the search data related to the teen.
There were several missed opportunities surrounding Ms. Pope-Sutherland’s medical care, with her being seen by psychiatric services four times in two years.
The inquest found that the teen spent several weeks in hospital in February and March 2017 – where she was sexually harassed by a patient – after being classified under the Mental Health Act following a tonic-clonic seizure and developing postictal psychosis. .
Clara, Miss Pope-Sutherland’s sister, said her mental health had been a “ticking time bomb” since learning that the man she accused of raping her would be released from.
She was further examined at Poole Hospital in October after her mental health deteriorated, but was later discharged and sent home without any community support.
Professor Matthew Walkera neurologist who treated the teen’s epilepsy said better communication between professionals was needed as he was never told about the October assessment, which he described as a “missed opportunity.”
Epilepsy expert Professor David Chadwick said there were also “missed opportunities” to review her treatment with epilepsy medications because of communication breakdowns between doctors.
In addition, her social worker was never notified of the assessment.