Murder quiz on lost teen
Man, 49, is arrested on suspicion of murder
POLICE hunting missing teen Gaia Pope have arrested a man aged 49 on suspicion of murder. He was held after clothing feared to belong to her was found scattered in a field near cliffs.
POLICE hunting a TV star’s missing daughter yesterday arrested a third member of the same family on suspicion of her murder.
The move came after a pile of clothes feared to belong to 19-yearold Gaia Pope were found scattered in a field.
Officers cordoned off the area close to 70ft coastal cliffs and a quarry after the discovery by a walker. Last night ® detectives were questioning 49-yearold Paul Elsey about the teenager’s disappearance 10 days ago.
He is the son of Rosemary Dinch, 71, and the uncle of Gaia’s 19-year-old actor pal Nathan Elsey, who were both arrested on suspicion of her murder on Monday before being later bailed.
Paul Elsey – who vanished on Tuesday a week after Gaia’s disappearance – was arrested yesterday after attending a police station accompanied by a solicitor.
His dad Greg, 69, said: “My son is 110% innocent. You will be gobsmacked at how the police have performed – absolutely disgusting.’’
He said his carpenter son had a castiron alibi for the time Gaia went missing. He claimed he was working 21 miles away at the time.
Distressed
Gaia – whose actress mum Natasha has appeared in Inspector Morse, The Bill and Knightmares – disappeared after calling at Greg’s ex-wife Rosemary’s home in Swanage, Dorset, in a distressed state. She was last spotted on CCTV running down a road. Paul Elsey’s VW Golf was taken away by police for forensic examination and detectives searched the home he shared with his parents. Other search teams were scouring woodland and dredging ponds. Clothing said to have been worn by Gaia was found on a stretch of coast known as Dancing Ledge a mile from Gaia’s home in the village of Langton Matravers, near Swanage Earlier Gaia’s dad Richard broke down in tears on TV as he said his family were “distraught” but remained hopeful that his daughter, an epilectic, would be found alive.