Face of the revenge porn convict Gaia feared would go free
Troubled teen told police he had assaulted her
GAIA Pope told police she was sexually assaulted by a friend who is now in prison after he posted a ‘revenge porn’ video of another teenage girl online.
Friends of the 19-year-old student – who was found dead on a clifftop – said she feared that Connor Hayes, 24, could soon be freed from jail.
Yesterday Hayes’s mother, f rom Bournemouth, confirmed that Gaia had made an accusation about her son.
In a statement, she said: ‘My son had a brief friendship with Gaia Pope when she was 16 and had just started college.
‘Within weeks of their friendship ending Gaia made an accusation to the police which was not upheld.
‘To the best of my knowledge my son has not had any contact with Gaia since their friendship ended at least two years ago.’
Hayes was jailed for two years in April for posting revenge porn involving a 17year-old who was unconnected to Gaia.
But a college friend of Gaia’s told the Daily Mail: ‘There is a private Instagram [account] she has just with her friends and she said that she was nervous about Connor getting let out of prison.’
She added: ‘ She did let people know about the assault on Facebook and when she did it we told her it wasn’t safe and she should take it down. We told her to delete it because it was dangerous.
‘I think she thought he might be released a bit early.’
Her friend Lucy Tuffin wrote on Facebook yesterday: ‘ No one can hurt you any more Gaia, if I could have protected you from it all I would have.’
Gaia’s body was found on a Dorset clifftop on Saturday – 11 days after she went missing from her home in nearby Swanage – just half a mile from where a pile of her clothes had been discovered two days earlier.
Her death is being treated as unexplained but detectives said her injuries suggest no one else was involved. Further tests are being carried out to determine the exact cause of death. Her family said she was vulnerable because of her severe epilepsy.
Marienna Pope-Weidemann, Gaia’s cousin, criticised the inquiry last night, telling the BBC: ‘It should not have taken 11 days to find her so close. And we need to know why.’
Three people arrested on suspicion of Gaia’s murder may take legal action against Dorset Police. Rosemary Dinch, 71, her son Paul Elsey, 49, and her grandson Nathan Elsey, 19, were released from the inquiry with no further action yesterday.
Detective Superintendent Paul Kessell, of Dorset Police, said: ‘I appreciate our inquiries would have caused t hese individuals stress and anxiety, however, we have an obligation in any missing person investigation to explore every possible line of inquiry.’
Gaia’s father, Richard Sutherland, told ITV News: ‘We want to know more. I think we know she was really struggling. A lot of issues and she clearly couldn’t cope with that... But right up into the end of her life there were still happy moments.’