NEW legislation is being proposed in Parliament today in memory of Dorset teenager Gaia Pope-Sutherland to improve police accountability during sexual violence investigations.

Ms Pope-Sutherland died during a mental health crisis within two years of reporting to police that she had been a victim of child sexual exploitation by a known sex offender.

Her case was dropped by Dorset Police.

The Gaia Principle Amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill would compel police officers investigating rape and serious sexual offences to investigate suspects thoroughly and join the dots between any independent allegations against the same suspect.

Campaigners say this would improve the investigation, particularly of prolific offenders, and provide accountability for survivors when negligence occurs.

Marienna Pope-Weidemann, Ms Pope-Sutherland’s cousin and campaigner with The Gemini Project, 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 of rape cases even result in a charge.

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