Gaia: A Death on Dancing Ledge

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Factual: Crime & Justice

Factual: Crime & Justice: True Crime

Zara McDermott explores the mysterious disappearance of 19-year-old Gaia Pope-Sutherland.

Series 1

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Zara McDermott

Sam Whittaker

Lucy Hillman

Angela Byrne

Jack Rampling

Georgia Smith

Rachel Haywood

Catey Sexton

Emma Carruth

Gaia: A Death on Dancing Ledge: Series 1: Episode 2

Episode 2

BBC Three - Gaia: A Death on Dancing Ledge, Series 1, Episode 2

Zara McDermott uncovers a world of online grooming. Did Gaia unwittingly stumble into it?

Three years before her death, Gaia was approached online by an older man. Zara McDermott discovers he was at the heart of a world of webcamming and online grooming in Dorset.

In episode two, Zara McDermott digs deeper into the world that Gaia unwittingly stepped into after she was approached online by an older man. Zara discovers how, in 2014, when Gaia was 16, she was approached by a man five years older than her online, who had a reputation in the local area. Despite multiple warnings from those closest to her, Gaia wanted to help him and they became close. 

As Zara explores further, she finds that the man had been working with a group of webcammers who saw themselves as entrepreneurs in the world of streaming sex online for paying customers. Zara discovers that these young men were filmed in 2015 for a BBC documentary presented by Mobeen Azhar, looking at the world of webcamming as a forerunner to OnlyFans. It was a light-hearted film at the time, but, as Mobeen says, looking back at the footage, it hid a murky underbelly, and he reveals shocking attitudes towards women held by the men.

Zara discovers that one night, after the man who contacted Gaia online invited her to his house, her twin sister and mum received a distressing phone call in the middle of the night to pick Gaia up. Gaia’s twin sister Maya says she instinctively knew that something wasn’t right, but Gaia was too terrified to say anything for fear of repercussion.

Zara hears her family describe Gaia’s personality as changing overnight; she stops going to college, becomes extremely paranoid and starts suffering from panic attacks. It all comes to a head during a trip to A&E where, in frantically scribbled notes, Gaia reveals her account of what really happened that night.

A year later, Gaia reported that the man had raped her. This episode examines his reputation in the local area, and Zara finds a number of women who are brave enough to talk.

Gaia: A Death on Dancing Ledge: Series 1

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