A BODY was found yesterday in the hunt for missing teenager Gaia Pope. Police said they were “confident” the remains were those of 19-year-old. The discovery was made on land south of Swanage in Dorset, close to where clothing positively identified as Gaia’s was found on Thursday.
She had not been seen since she vanished from the Swanage on the afternoon of Tuesday, November 7.
Dorset Police said the discovery was made at around 3pm yesterday by specialist search teams near a coastal path and the field where the items of clothing were located.
Detective Superintendent Paul Kessell, of Dorset Police’s major crime investigation team, said: “Although the body has yet to be formally identified, we are confident that we have found Gaia. Her family has been informed and are being supported by specially-trained officers.”
“Our thoughts remain with all of her family and friends at this very traumatic time. They have requested privacy and that we make no further media releases at this point.
“The coroner has been notified and further forensic examination will continue. This will guide the investigation in respect of the circumstances of the death which at this time remains unexplained.”
Thousands of local people turned out to help search for Gaia yesterday. Kessell said:
“I would like to thank the community for their support and understanding. We have received a huge amount of support from the public, who have contacted us with possible sightings of Gaia and items of found clothing.
“I can confirm that we have recovered all the clothing we believe Gaia was wearing when she disappeared and, with thanks, we no longer require the public to assist with searches.”
Three people were arrested and released under investigation last week in connection with Gaia’s disappearance.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel