NEW legislation has been proposed in Parliament to hold police accountable in investigating sexual violence, following the death of Gaia Pope.

The Gaia Principle aims to ensure serious sexual offences are investigated thoroughly and suspects are checked for other allegations of abuse against them.

Gaia Pope-Sunderland, 19, was found dead after going missing in Swanage in November 2017.

An inquest held in 2022 heard Gaia was ‘anxious’ about the imminent release from prison of the man she alleged raped her.

Jess Phillips MP, who proposed the amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill, said: “I have met many victims of sexual violence who say it is not the violence that broke them, but the failed state response.

“That when they turned to the institutions that were supposed to protect them and deliver justice, they were met with incompetence or discrimination.”

She added the Gaia Principle will ensure police are held to the highest standard and are held accountable if they fall short.

Marienna Pope-Weidemann, Gaia’s cousin, said: "The Gaia Principle will ensure survivors are no longer denied justice and left in danger because police do not investigate a suspect properly and it offers accountability for those failed and abandoned, as Gaia was.

“We need this level of accountability in a country where less than 1.5 per cent rape cases even result in a charge.

“That doesn’t just put lives like Gaia’s at risk, it puts us all at risk.”

A mass coastal search was conducted to find Gaia, with residents from across Dorset volunteering to help.

However, she was found dead 11 days later in an undergrowth on a clifftop between Dancing Ledge and Anvil Point.

A postmortem examination found that Gaia died of hypothermia.

An ongoing letter writing action has already gained over 300 participants calling on the government to enforce the amendment.

Letters can be submitted through the Action Network website, under ‘support the Gaia Principle to unite survivors' voices and hold police to account’.

Verity Nevitt, co-founder of The Gemini Project, an organisation working towards ending sexual violence, said “police need to be held accountable for their failures.”

“Too often, no further action is incorrectly taken when Police Officers neglect to adequately investigate cases or consider all the evidence available to them.

“Front line support workers spend a significant amount of time reminding Police of their duties, of Police and CPS guidance and the law by asking them to look again and reconsider their judgement in light of the facts that were already available to them.

“Too many survivors have been denied justice because Police cannot follow basic processes and do their jobs properly. It is time police were held accountable for their failures.”