Gaia trio mistakenly held after CCTV mix-up
A pensioner, her son and grandson were mistakenly arrested on suspicion of murdering Gaia Pope as a result of a CCTV mix-up caused by the clocks changing, it has been alleged.
Rosemary Dinch, 71, Paul Elsey, 49, and Nathan Elsey, 19, were held as police and volunteers desperately searched for Miss Pope, 19, from Swanage, Dorset, who November 7.
Mrs Dinch and her grandson were arrested six days after Miss Pope disappeared and were released the following day as police carried on their investigation. Her son was arrested on November 16 and released under police investigation a day later.
Describing her vanished on arrest, Ms Dinch told The Sun: “I was just thinking about poor Gaia.”
She added that her son said police “got it all wrong but it was like talking to a brick wall”.
Ms Dinch’s daughter, Deborah Elsey, told the newspaper she had given police CCTV footage from her house that showed her son, who said he had known Miss Pope, leaving his home.
“When they questioned him, the time didn’t match the time on the footage so they dragged him in for murder,” Ms Elsey said.
“It’s ridiculous. The time on the CCTV didn’t match because the clocks went back and the time on there didn’t change.”
Miss Pope’s body was found on Saturday and her death is being treated as unexplained.