This is a grassroots campaign for police accountability in memory of two young women who lost their lives after the police failed to listen to them and keep them safe: Gaia Pope from Dorset and Bethany Rae Fields from Yorkshire. Studies show that police fail to recognise high-risk indicators in over 96% of cases like Bethany and Gaia’s. To help make preventable deaths like theirs history, we’re calling on the government to introduce two enforceable duties on the police so that victims, survivors and bereaved families can hold police officers accountable for the systemic failings on domestic and sexual violence which continue to cost lives.

1. The Believe-React-Fast (BRF) Duty - to keep us safe.
   To keep survivors safe from the moment of first contact, this duty requires police officers to record and respond fast to reports; conduct a proper risk assessment; take protective safeguarding action (like support referrals or restraining orders) when needed and consult their supervisors on high-risk cases.
   

2. The Gaia Principle Duty - to listen and act.
   To make sure reports are taken seriously and investigated thoroughly, this duty requires police officers to search for and consider all relevant intelligence relating to the suspect. That means checking for historic allegations and joining the dots.

Repeated and serious failure to meet these duties should amount to professional misconduct so that officers who don’t do their job, can lose their job - just like in any other profession.

The Government’s new Freedom from Violence and Abuse strategy sets out valuable and long-awaited guidance along these lines, but bereaved families and survivors have seen time and again that guidance and recommendations are not enough. To challenge institutional misogyny that routinely minimises risk, disbelieves women and enables abusers to act with impunity, we need meaningful enforcement. Prolific perpetrators, including those like Couzens and Carrick operating within the police, were enabled for years by colleagues who turned the other way.

Without enforceable duties, lessons will only ever be learned on paper, while women and girls continue to die preventable deaths with no accountability. That’s why our campaign is supported by Refuge, Centre for Women’s Justice, Rape Crisis England & Wales, Women’s Resource Centre, Killed Women, AAFDA, Hundred Families, and the Gemini Project. The Gaia Principle is also supported by EVAW, Women’s Aid, Solace and Level Up. The BRF Campaign is also supported by and SAMM National.

Please use this tool to write to the Home Secretary and Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women & Girls, calling on the Government to act now.

'Refuge stands with the bereaved families of Gaia Pope and Bethany Rae Fields in calling for strengthened accountability in the police response to, and investigation of, domestic abuse, rape and serious sexual offences. Women and girls' lives depend on it.'

Gaia’s Story

Gaia Pope from Dorset lost her life at the age of 19 following almost two years of investigatory and safeguarding failings. After she reported being a victim of child sexual exploitation by what turned out to be a known child sex offender, Gaia’s allegation was disbelieved, treated in isolation from numerous other allegations and ultimately dropped. Other victims - including children - were also denied justice and support, while despite recording threats to kill, Gaia was repeatedly denied a restraining order and her mental health plummeted.

In November 2017, after another incident of sexual harassment online, Gaia tried again to make a police report. Once again, she was dismissed and disbelieved. Instead of recognising her mental health crisis as a medical emergency, the officer she spoke to hung up on her and accused Gaia and her family of ‘talking absolute rubbish’, telling colleagues that calls from Gaia and her family should not be taken seriously. Within three hours, Gaia had been reported missing, re-traumatised and disorientated. Police failed to properly grade her as a high-risk missing person and took little to no action to search for the first 48 hours, during which time Gaia died of hypothermia. A few months later, her ‘alleged rapist’ was convicted for child sex offences for a second time.

Find out more about the Justice for Gaia campaign and take action to support us here: linktr.ee/JusticeForGaia.

'Frontline 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.' - Verity Nevitt, co-founder, the Gemini Project.

Bethany’s Story

Bethany Rae Fields, from West Yorkshire, was murdered at the age of 21 by her ex-partner. She had repeatedly reached out for protection from this man, who had a recorded history of domestic abuse. Alongside friends and family, Bethany had repeatedly reported his threats to kill but no action was taken. Both Bethany and he were graded as ‘medium-risk victims of domestic abuse’. She was murdered on 12 September 2019, while setting up for a music event in Huddersfield.

'We want accountability, transparency and respect for the victims who often struggle to find the immense courage it requires to come forward and speak out.' - Pauline Jones.

Find out more about the BRF Campaign and take action to support Pauline at brfcampaign.org

Accountability Now

Officers’ failure to follow existing guidance contributed to both Gaia and Bethany’s deaths, yet not one of them lost their jobs or faced any consequences.

The time for trusting the police to protect us is long past. We need independent accountability and enforceable duties that give survivors and bereaved families an independent route to challenge systemic failings and protect the public by enforcing survivors’ rights from the grassroots up.

In a country where fewer than 3% of recorded rapes are solved; where nearly half of domestic homicide suspects have a history of abuse allegations; and where dealing with the police and criminal justice system is so re-traumatising that it forces many survivors to drop their own cases, nothing less than independent accountability will do.

Together, the Believe-React-Fast and Gaia Principle Duties offer enforceable, basic standards and meaningful accountability for victims and survivors from first report through investigation.

As well as including these duties in Police Conduct Regulations - which set professional standards for officers - we want the government to embed them in guidance and training, police force inspections by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), and the Victims’ Code, so survivors and families have clear rights and routes to redress. We are also asking for short clause in primary legislation to protect these rights for everyone long-term.

'Because of endemic police failure to investigate properly and a lack of co-ordinated professional curiosity, those known perpetrators are acting with impunity. New clause 48 makes the investigation of potential perpetrators a central part of policing. It is unbelievable that I have to say this - the country would think that this is happening - but that must be a part of the standards of their professional behaviour.' - Jess Phillips MP

About the Campaign

This action supports a joint parliamentary proposal from:

• The BRF Campaign (Believe-React-Fast) was founded in Bethany’s memory by her mum, Pauline Jones. Our partner-campaign for these policing duties is part of Pauline’s wider work to make sure that all reports are taken seriously, to shift the burden of proof away from the victim, and to shine a light on the systemic failings that are repeatedly resulting in preventable deaths.
  

• The Gemini Project, a survivor-led non-profit working to end sexual violence through advocacy, education and campaigns. The Gaia Principle was part of the #JusticeForGaia Manifesto developed in consultation with Gaia's family, the Centre for Women's Justice and Rape Crisis England & Wales. It is now being taken forward by Gaia’s cousin Marienna Pope-Weidemann and the Gemini Project.

Together, we are calling for a clear, deliverable enforcement package to protect the public, empower survivors and save lives like Bethany's and Gaia's by:

• amending the Police Conduct Regulations 2020 to embed both duties as standards of professional behaviour;
  

• embedding them in College of Policing guidance and HMICFRS inspection expectations; and
  

• reflecting them in the Victims’ Code, so survivors and families have a recognised right to expect these standards and a route to redress when they are breached.

Footnotes

1. Home Office, Crime outcomes in England and Wales 2024 to 2025 (5 August 2025). Refers to the less than 3% of recorded rapes resulting in a charge/summons outcome

2. The Guardian, “Nearly 70% of rape victims drop out of investigations in England and Wales” (31 May 2023). Refers to victim withdrawal up to around 70%.

3. Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales, “Domestic Homicide Report” news release (25 August 2021). States that just under half (48%) of suspects are previously reported to police as suspects for domestic abuse..

4. Office for National Statistics, Domestic abuse prevalence and trends, England and Wales: year ending March 2024 (27 November 2024). Estimates ~2.3 million adults experiencing domestic abuse.