Her cousin, Marienna Pope-Weidemann, is currently campaigning to introduce the Gaia Principle Duty, which would ensure reports are taken seriously and investigated thoroughly by police. “Two weeks before she went missing, she experienced another incident of sexual harassment online, which was extremely triggering. They all kept their jobs even though at every single stage, in every single sense, Gaia was terribly let down, and that’s why she’s not here anymore. We need enforceable standards and professional consequences for policing, just like any other profession, which is part of what the Gaia Principle Duty is calling for. The Gaia Principle would require officers to properly investigate, by proactively checking and acting on all relevant intelligence and warning signs about a suspect, instead of treating each report in isolation.

Source: The Times March 02, 2026 17:50 UTC