Gay Serial Killer Had 'Penchant For Drug Rape Pornography' And Used Dating Apps, UK Inquest Told
10:52 GMT 06.10.2021 (Updated: 12:59 GMT 01.03.2022)
© Photo : Metropolitan Police
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In November 2016, Stephen Port was given a whole life sentence for the murder of four gay men in east London. He was also found guilty of sexually assaulting several other young men who he had drugged.
A detective has told the inquest into the deaths of four young men, who were killed by serial killer Stephen Port how his crimes all fitted into a “pattern.”
Detective Inspector Mark Richards said Port was “obsessed” with messaging men online or on apps to arrange “sexual encounter hook-ups” and had a “penchant for drug rape pornography,” which he would watch for hours.
Judge Sarah Munro QC has been appointed an Assistant Coroner to conduct fresh inquests into the deaths of Anthony Walgate, 23, Gabriel Kovari, 22, Daniel Whitworth, 21, and Jack Taylor, 25, who died in east London between June 2014 and September 2015.
Stephen Port's victims
© Photo : Metropolitan Police / Stephen Port victims
All four victims had met up with Port, who was then 39, after he contacted them on gay dating websites or on apps like Grindr.
Detective Inspector Richards said: “He would use online messaging and smartphone apps and would meet these people. He would not provide a home address but would arrange to meet them outside Barking station. He would talk with them and get to know them online, would arrange to meet and would then walk them back to his home.”
Port drugged them with GHB, raped them and left their bodies outside his own block of flats or in a nearby churchyard in Barking. The Metropolitan Police has been accused of failing to investigate the deaths properly.
Police Ruled Out 59 Other Victims
On Wednesday 6 October Detective Inspector Richards told the inquest, sitting at Barking Town Hall, they had looked into the deaths of 58 or 59 other men to see if Port could have been responsible and said they were “100 percent sure” he was not involved.
Both cases involve the Met Police, piling additional pressure on Cressida Dick.
— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) October 5, 2021
It is tragic that Stephen Port’s victims have received relatively little attention, but the inquests into their deaths may shed light on how police failed to spot a pattern of murders.
Opening the inquests on Tuesday, 5 October, Judge Munro said Port would "not play any part in these inquests but you will hear a great deal about him and his lifestyle."
She told the jury: "If there appear to have been shortcomings in the way in which the police investigated these deaths, we must consider those shortcomings dispassionately and resist the temptation to look for scapegoats."
The centre of Barking, east London, showing where Stephen Port's victims were found
© Photo : Metropolitan Police / Barking aerial shot
Port’s trial heard he had written a suicide note, purporting to be from Mr Whitworth, and left it next to his body. In the note he claimed he was responsible for Mr Kovari’s death and had taken his own life because of the guilt.
Inquests were held into the deaths of Mr Kovari and Mr Whitworth before Port was arrested. Coroner Nadia Persaud recorded open verdicts and said: “I have some concerns surrounding Whitworth's death which have not been answered by the police investigation.”
The fake suicide note Stephen Port wrote, pretending to be from Daniel Whitworth
© Photo : Metropolitan Police / Stephen Port fake suicide note
During the first inquest John Pape, a friend of Mr Kovari’s, asked the police if they had ever considered a link with Mr Walgate’s death but was told no link had been established.
Port was finally arrested in October 2015 when a detective saw him on CCTV footage meeting Taylor and recognised him as the man who had called 999 when Mr Walgate died.
Port Also Left Behind 'Eight Living Victims'
Detective Inspector Richards said eight other men - described as “living victims” - had been drugged and raped by Port between February 2012 and October 2015.
He said he would drug his victims with GHB (Gamma-hydroxybutyrate), a so-called chemsex drug, either in a drink or by inserting an applicator into their anus claiming it was a lubricant.
Detective Inspector Richards said Port would sometimes offer his victims a shot of vodka or tequila, in which he had surreptitiously inserted GHB, and would say: “Let’s get this party started.”
Daniel Whitworth (right), one of Stephen Port's victims
© Photo : Metropolitan Police / Daniel Whitworth
He said three of the victims were dumped in the churchyard of St Margaret’s Church, about 200 yards from his home, but it was not clear how Port had moved them.
Detective Inspector Richards said: “We have a hypothesis, a theory, that he would wrap them in bedsheets and put them over his shoulder, pretending they were a child he was taking home to bed, and would move them under cover of darkness.”
On Monday, 4 October, Commander Jon Savell, the Met’s Head of Profession for Investigations, said: “At the time of Port’s conviction, we apologised to the victims’ families and Daniel Whitworth’s partner for how we initially responded to the deaths, and I would like to apologise again.
“Since Port’s offences came to light we have worked hard within the Met to improve both our processes and our wider knowledge across the organisation of a range of issues associated with the murders,”added Mr Savell.
