The inquest into my cousin Gaia Pope’s death was an 11-week tour of the wreckage left by a perfect storm of austerity and misogyny. Gaia was only 19 in November 2017 when she went missing. She was found after an 11-day search, having died of hypothermia. She had already grown into one of the most loving, intelligent and courageous young women I will ever know and I loved her like a sister. She was also a survivor of child sexual exploitation, living with severe epilepsy and severe post-traumatic stress symptoms, and she was so badly failed by the system.
The inquest has unearthed more than 50 missed opportunities in Gaia’s care and the search for her, as well as the fact that one Dorset police officer admitted to having altered search records after her death.
