Missing teenager Gaia Pope-Sutherland died from hypothermia after operating away from her residence whereas affected by a psychological well being disaster, an inquest jury has concluded.
The teenager, who suffered from extreme epilepsy, was reported lacking from her residence in Swanage, Dorset, on November 7 2017.
A search operation was launched within the Swanage space for the 19-year-old, together with police, HM Coastguard, National Police Air Service, Dorset Search and Rescue and members of the general public.
Her physique was discovered by police search groups on November 18 in undergrowth between Dancing Ledge and Anvil Point, near the Swanage coastal path.
A autopsy examination discovered Miss Pope-Sutherland, who had been found in deep undergrowth, had died from hypothermia. An entomologist stated he believed the newest she had been alive was November 9.
Her clothes was discovered scattered throughout a area as if she had been eradicating it whereas she walked and she or he might have been affected by “paradoxical undressing” as she succumbed to hypothermia.
After deliberating for a day and a half, the jury returned a unanimous narrative conclusion that Miss Pope-Sutherland had died from hypothermia in some unspecified time in the future between 3.59pm on November 7 2017 and 10am on November 8, which was “probably caused by her mental health and mental state on November 7 2017”.
During the 11-week inquest, jurors at Dorset Coroner’s Court in Bournemouth heard proof from 78 witnesses.
The teenager had been identified with post-traumatic stress dysfunction after revealing she had been drugged and raped by a person when she was 16.
At the time of her disappearance she was anxious about his imminent launch from jail for unconnected sexual offences and had been experiencing “ongoing manic episodes” – fearing he was “after her”.
The school pupil had additionally reported to police receiving indecent pictures through Facebook from a special man and was resulting from make a proper assertion on the day she disappeared.
Miss Pope-Sutherland, who was an everyday hashish person, appeared “unsettled” on November 7 and left her aunt Talia Pope’s residence in Swanage at 3.40pm. The final recognized sighting was a short while afterward Priest’s Road.
The inquest heard the chief constable of Dorset Police had accepted there have been a number of failings within the hunt for Miss Pope-Sutherland.
Many members of {the teenager}’s household advised police to go looking the world the place her physique was later discovered, because it was a favorite spot of her late grandfather.
Her mom, Kim Pope, tried reporting her lacking and her aunt made 5 calls to Dorset Police within the hours after she ran off, however a proper lacking individual report was not logged by the drive till 6.15pm.
She was then graded as at “medium risk of harm” and solely upgraded to “high risk” 9 hours after she vanished.
It meant the seek for Miss Pope-Sutherland was sluggish to get off the bottom, with one officer looking out Swanage city centre that night and a police helicopter combing the Dorset coast.
Extra officers weren’t drafted in, and a specialist police search adviser and senior officers weren’t knowledgeable.
A 300-metre search of the place she was final seen didn’t begin till the next day and from the incorrect location, with officers “crying out for help”, the inquest heard.
The teenager’s father, Richard Sutherland, questioned whether or not police had directed sufficient assets to discovering his daughter within the first 48 hours and will have searched the Dancing Ledge space earlier.
The inquest additionally heard {that a} police search co-ordinator retrospectively altered search data regarding {the teenager}.
There have been a number of missed alternatives round Miss Pope-Sutherland’s medical care through which she was seen 4 occasions in two years by psychiatric providers.
The inquest heard {the teenager} had spent a number of weeks in hospital in February and March 2017 – the place she was sexually harassed by a affected person – having been sectioned underneath the Mental Health Act following a tonic-clonic seizure and creating postictal psychosis.
Miss Pope-Sutherland’s sister Clara advised the inquest her psychological well being had been a “ticking timebomb” since she realized the person she accused of raping her was to be freed.
She was additional assessed in Poole Hospital within the October after her psychological well being worsened however later discharged and despatched residence with none group help.
Professor Matthew Walker, a neurologist who handled {the teenager}’s epilepsy, stated there wanted to be higher communication between professionals as he was by no means advised in regards to the October evaluation, which he described as a “missed opportunity”.
Epilepsy professional Professor David Chadwick stated there have been additionally “missed opportunities” to evaluation her epilepsy drug therapy due to communication failures between medical doctors.
Furthermore, her social employee was by no means advised of the evaluation.
Source: www.impartial.co.uk