Officer said Gaia Pope’s family ‘taking the piss’ with pleas for help, jury hears

Recordings of calls to Dorset police played at inquest into death of 19-year-old in 2017

A police officer dismissed relatives of the Dorset teenager Gaia Pope as taking the piss" when they made a series of desperate calls for help on the day she vanished, an inquest jury has heard.

Pope's mother and aunt spoke to Dorset police in an attempt to confirm an appointment for the young woman to make a complaint over indecent images she had been sent. They explained that the images had triggered a severe mental health episode in Pope, 19, who was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after reporting being raped at the age of 16.