Family of carpenter arrested over Gaia Pope ‘murder’ slam cops as her dad joints hunt for missing teen
THE father of a carpenter who was arrested on suspicion of murdering missing teenager Gaia Pope has accused police of a "witch hunt".
Three members of Greg Elsey's family have been arrested and then released during the investigation into the 19-year-old's disappearance.
The 69-year-old said his son Paul, a 49-year-old carpenter, was "fine" but nor currently staying at the family home in West Wellow, Hampshire.
A huge community search is due to take place today with dozens of volunteers expected to help police.
Greg told the that the attention his son was receiving was "not fair".
He said: "We're getting really sick of all this attention now and we'd like you to leave us alone, it's not fair. It's getting too much now.
"Paul is fine but all this attention isn't fair, please just give him some space.
"What I will say is the way the police have handled this is terrible, it's shocking."
He added: "My family has totally been the victim of a witch hunt. They should start looking elsewhere.
"I think of the public money which has been wasted, which could have been spent searching for Gaia and finding those clothes a long time ago."
The clothes he was referring to were items discovered by passersby that matched the description of the clothes she was last seen wearing.
The other members of the family who police arrested and then released without investigation are Paul's mother Rosemary Dinch, 71, and his nephew Nathan Elsey, 19.
The young man is a school friend of Gaia's and Rosemary is believed to be the last person to see Gaia, who suffers from epilepsy, alive.
Yesterday dozens of police and coastguard officers were combing a cliff edge for clues near to where the clothes were found.
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