Grieving families of serial killer Stephen Port’s four victims heaped shame onto the Met Police today – after a jury found force failings on his first murder let him kill three more young men.
An inquest into all of Port’s four victims said ‘fundamental’ mistakes looking at Anthony Walgate’s death ‘probably’ contributed to Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth and Jack Taylor being subsequently killed.
The devastating ruling was summed up best by Mr Whitworth’s stepmother who sobbed: ‘These three boys could have been still walking around today had they investigated Anthony’s death properly.’
Port, 46, lured the unsuspecting victims to his east London flat then plied them with a fatal dose of date rape drug GHB before dumping their bodies nearby as part of a sick fetish for sex with unconscious men in 2014 and 2015.
Today the IOPC announced it was considering reopening its probe into 17 officers involved in the case. Nine officers were given re-training but were not formally disciplined after the investigation in 2018.
Families of all four victims said through lawyer Neil Hudgell: ‘The inadequate investigations by the Metropolitan Police into the deaths of Anthony, Gabriel, Daniel and Jack should be on public record as one of the most widespread institutional failures in modern history.
‘The jury has been unanimous in identifying fundamental failings and basic errors in the investigation into Anthony’s death which meant that Port was not stopped, and was allowed to carry on with his terrible acts.
Sex predator Port (pictured) gave fatal doses of date rape drug GHB to four young gay men, and dumped their bodies near his flat in Barking, east London
Anthony Walgate (left) and Gabriel Kovari (right) were Port’s first two victims
An inquest heard if police had followed up leads, Port could have been caught before the deaths of Daniel Whitworth (left) and Jack Taylor (right)
Families of those murdered by Stephen Port at the conclusion of their inquest at Barking Town Hall today after the jury result
‘We continue to believe that had the police done their jobs properly in the first place, Gabriel, Daniel and Jack would not have been killed and other young men would not have been drugged and raped by him.’
Mr Whitworth’s former partner Ricky Waumsley said current Met Commissioner Cressida Dick – who was not in charge at the time of the murders – should resign over the findings.
Police watchdog the IOPC also said it may open its investigation into officers following the evidence heard at the inquest.
Despite at first finding no evidence of misconduct, Regional Director Graham Beesley said: ‘Our thoughts remain with the families and friends of Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth and Jack Taylor – we recognise how distressing it will have been to revisit the deaths of their loved ones over the past few months.
‘As the inquest has progressed, we have been assessing whether to reopen – either in full or in part – our investigation into the way the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) handled inquiries into their deaths, and that process is on-going.
‘The men were all murdered by Stephen Port in Barking between June 2014 and September 2015.
‘We can reopen an investigation where there are compelling reasons to do so. Those reasons could arise if new information has a real possibility of affecting our decisions and findings and is in the public interest.
‘We investigated the actions of 17 officers, all but one gave no comment interviews and provided written responses to our investigators.
‘We are examining if anything was said by the officers who gave evidence during the inquests which could alter our findings and give grounds to re-open our investigation.
‘In line with our our policy on re-opening investigations, and given the significant impact any decision may have on all of those involved, we will be seeking representations from all affected parties.
‘No individual officer had a case to answer for gross misconduct but the performance of nine officers fell below the standard required.
‘Of these nine officers, seven received feedback from their manager, known as management action. One of those also received informal learning for another related matter.
‘The remaining two officers were subject to formal unsatisfactory performance procedures and attended meetings to discuss their performance and appropriate action going forward.
‘We found no case to answer for the remaining eight officers in terms of misconduct. However, one of those eight officers underwent informal learning to improve their practice.
‘Our investigation report and a separate report focusing on organisational learning recommendations will be published at the conclusion of all proceedings.’
This is the latest in a string of scandals to hit confidence in the force.
It is still reeling from the crimes of serving Met Police officer Wayne Couzens, who faked an arrest to kidnap, rape and murder innocent Sarah Everard off the street.
Earlier this week PCs Deniz Jaffer and Jamie Lewis were jailed for 33 months after sharing on Whatsapp pictures of murdered sisters Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry, whose bodies they were supposed to be guarding.
Today jurors returned a conclusion that Mr Walgate, a 23-year-old fashion student who did occasional escort work, was unlawfully killed.
Mr Walgate, originally from Hull, went to meet Port in Barking on June 17, 2014, and was not seen again until his lifeless body was discovered, outside Port’s flat, in the early hours of June 19.
It was Port who contacted the emergency services, repeatedly changing his account of how he came to find the young man.
Inquest jurors assembled at Barking Town Hall to deliver their conclusions over the deaths of Mr Walgate, Mr Kovari, 22, and the further two killings of Mr Whitworth, 21, and Mr Taylor, 25.
The four men were all murdered by Port between June 2014 and September 2015.
He plied them each with a fatal dose of date-rape drug GHB and dumped their bodies in public areas.
In written conclusions, the jury acknowledged officers’ ‘heavy workload’ but said there were failures that ‘cannot be overlooked’.
The jury said: ‘We believe there were fundamental failures in these investigations, which were at a basic level.’
It followed weeks of hearings at Barking Town Hall in which police admitted failing to carry out basic checks, send evidence to be forensically examined, and exercise professional curiosity during the 16-month killing spree, from June 2014 to September 2015.
Port, 46, a bus depot chef, will die in prison after being handed a whole life sentence at the Old Bailey for the murders and a string of sex assaults.
Since the inquests began, a new alleged victim has come forward to say they believe they were drugged and sexually assaulted by Port in the same period.
The victims’ loved one claimed failings stemmed from prejudice, because the victims were gay and their deaths were drug-related.
Officers had denied it, blaming mistakes on being understaffed and lacking resources, with some acting up in senior positions.
Coroner Sarah Munro QC barred jurors from deciding on the issue of homophobia for legal reasons.
Jurors deliberated for a week before returning their conclusions, after hearing that none of the victims was from the area, and was either anti-drugs or had no known use of GHB.
Mr Kovari’s friend, John Pape, maintained that ‘institutional homophobia’ played a part.
He said: ‘You have to hope prejudice did play a part.
‘Because if the Met were this incompetent with every serious crime, regardless of the victim’s origin, sexuality or the setting in which they are found, rapists and murderers would be going unpoliced and no-one would be protected.’
Mr Whitworth’s partner, Ricky Waumsley, said: ‘I believe it’s a mixture of everything – so, a bit of laziness, incompetence, lack of training.
‘But I absolutely stand by that they were being homophobic towards these four victims and making general assumptions that they’re all young, gay men who take drugs.’
Mr Walgate’s mother, Sarah Sak, said the jurors’ conclusion is a ‘massive victory’ but she is ‘disappointed’ they were not allowed to consider prejudice.
She said: ‘If Anthony, Gabriel, Daniel and Jack had been girls found in such close proximity there would have been an outcry. There would have been a lot more investigation – and there just wasn’t.’
Mr Taylor’s sister Donna called on the Independent Office for Police Complaints (IOPC) to ‘rip up’ its report and reopen the investigation into the officers involved.
She said she feels strongly about the issue of homophobia, which the coroner had ruled the jury could not make a finding on for legal reasons.
Ms Taylor said: ‘Every one of the boys was not treated like individual humans and we have said that they were discriminated against from the very beginning.
‘The way they were seen as a druggie, homeless, gay. It’s not acceptable.’
Mrs Sak called for the police watchdog to reopen its investigation and for some police officers to be sacked.
Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, who raised his concern about a serial killer after the first three deaths in 2014, criticised the police for failing to engage with the LGBT community and follow their own guidance.
He said: ‘Evidence given at the Stephen Port inquest revealed the police to be incompetent, negligent, unprofessional and homophobic.
‘Every gay person who expressed concerns about the deaths was ignored, dismissed and treated with contempt, even the partner of one of the victims.
‘That’s institutional homophobia. The officers involved must face disciplinary action.’
The stepmother of Daniel Whitworth, the youngest victim of Stephen Port, sobbed as she heard inquest evidence laying police failings bare.
Amanda Whitworth called it ‘a huge tragedy’ that three of the four men Port killed would still be alive had police properly investigated the first death.
Porn-obsessed loner Port murdered fashion student Anthony Walgate before claiming the lives of Gabriel Kovari, Mrs Whitworth’s stepson Daniel and Jack Taylor.
Mrs Whitworth said she had been left sobbing at times listening to evidence in the inquests into the men’s deaths, held at Barking Town Hall.
‘We’re still in shock, really, that we’ve seen what we’ve seen over these weeks,’ she said. ‘I’m still trying to process what we’ve seen.
‘It’s been very hurtful at times. We’ve felt angry enough at times to where, even though we’ve been in Barking, we’ve stayed upstairs and watched it in the family room because you just can’t trust yourself not to get angry in the courtroom.
‘So, we’ve been upstairs and that’s resulted in tears. Sometimes I’ve just sat up there and sobbed.’
Mrs Whitworth went on: ‘You find out the real detail of everything.
STEPHEN PORT VICTIMS – WHAT HAPPENED IN EACH CASE?
Stephen Port murdered four young men during a 16-month period between 2014 and 2015, luring them to his one-bed flat in Barking before fatally plying them with date-rape drug GHB and then dumping their bodies nearby.
Port was initially arrested days after he killed his first victim, but was not charged with murder until after he struck for a fourth time.
Police said they were inexperienced to deal with such cases and were struggling with a large workload at the time of the deaths.
Here is what happened in each investigation:
Anthony Walgate
Anthony Walgate, June 19 2014
It was Port himself who called 999 to report ‘finding’ Mr Walgate unconscious outside his flat, although he later admitted dumping his body after the pair met for sex. He killed three men by the time he was jailed in March 2015 for perverting the course of justice in the Walgate case.
Fashion-conscious Mr Walgate was found with his underpants on back to front and inside out, but police said this was ‘unusual, not necessarily suspicious or sinister’.
Investigators at the scene were not told of a previous allegation of rape against Port on the police national computer from 2012, who was traced as being the person who called 999 to report the body.
In fact, police only checked the national database for Mr Walgate, not Port.
Another officer deduced there was ‘nothing to suggest the victim had been assaulted’, despite bruising under Mr Walgate’s arms, while sex swabs taken from his body were not submitted for DNA testing.
Perhaps most crucially, police failed to submit a laptop belonging to Port for forensic analysis for 10 months after it was seized in the wake of Mr Walgate’s death, and then missed repeated searches for drug rape videos contained on the device.
The Crown Prosecution Service was also not given information that Port was a suspected sex offender when they ruled out a homicide charge over Mr Walgate’s death.
Police soon knew that Port had lied to them from the outset, eventually charging him with perverting the course of justice. But they did not follow up information he volunteered during his initial interviews about his previous involvement with police on suspicion of sexual assault.
Requests from the local police officers for the Met’s specialist murder investigation team to take over the investigation were repeatedly dismissed, meaning inexperienced officers were in charge of the case.
Two of Mr Walgate’s friends were convinced his death was suspicious and aired their concerns, but said they believed police assumed he had overdosed on drugs simply because he was a gay sex worker.
Sarah Sak, the victim’s mother, told police she was convinced it was ‘murder’, but said police told her ‘it was probably drugs’.
Gabriel Kovari
Gabriel Kovari, August 28 2014
Aspiring English teacher Mr Kovari was found slumped in a graveyard near Port’s home. But the scene was not declared suspicious, so his body was not subjected to a forensic post-mortem examination.
His clothing was not seized and so was not analysed, and no samples were taken from his body.
Police did not follow up leads to trace Mr Kovari’s friend, Karl Kamgdon, who Mr Kovari sent pictures to from inside Port’s flat when he arrived there, and was the last person he spoke to.
John Pape, Mr Kovari’s friend, effectively turned detective to find the victim’s boyfriend in Spain, Thierry Amodio, who had been contacted by Port masquerading as another man.
Both men supplied the police with information which would have led them to the serial killer, but they were repeatedly ignored.
A family liaison officer assigned to the Kovari case failed to contact the victims’ loved ones at all, and even referred to him as being from Lithuania rather than Slovakia.
Daniel Whitworth
Daniel Whitworth, September 20 2014
Detectives failed to carry out key forensic tests including on the bed sheet on which chef Mr Whitworth was found, his clothes, so-called sex swabs taken from his body, and the drugs bottle planted on him – all of which carried Port’s DNA or fingerprints.
Perhaps most crucially, the ‘suicide note’ planted by Port on Mr Whitworth’s body taking responsibility for Mr Kovari’s death appeared to be taken on face value by police.
Only a section of its contents was sent to Mr Whitworth’s family, with disputes over whether his father was able to identify the handwriting as that of his son.
The note was not shown to Mr Whitworth’s long-term boyfriend, Ricky Waumsley, for a year, and he said he felt cut out of the investigation entirely.
He later raised concerns about the ‘really impersonal’ nature of the content, that it did not mention any family members and that he could not be sure it was his partner’s handwriting.
The note also contained a veiled reference to Port, asking police not to ‘blame the guy I was with last night’ in case the investigation eventually linked the victim with the serial killer. However, police arriving on the scene thought ‘the guy’ was a homeless man sleeping in the graveyard where Mr Whitworth was found.
It was much later that a handwriting expert concluded the script matched Port’s while the notepad on which the suicide note was written was recovered from Port’s address.
There was no evidence Mr Kovari and Mr Whitworth had ever met or contacted each other.
Police also failed to obtain full phone data that would have shown Mr Whitworth was not in Barking on the night of Mr Kovari’s death – creating an inaccuracy with the suicide note that claimed Mr Whitworth killed Mr Kovari.
Mr Walgate also showed signs of bruising under the arms consistent with being moved or carried before or after his death.
Bizarrely, dog walker Barbara Denham, who discovered Mr Kovari’s body, was also the first on the scene for Mr Whitworth’s death.
She told police: ‘I was the same woman that found the other body a few weeks ago … I found another young boy.’
Jack Taylor
Jack Taylor, September 14 2015
The final death was not linked to the previous three until a chance discovery nearly a month later – this was despite similarities that all four victims were young, gay men, with no links to the area, who were found dumped in public, within a short distance of each other.
Mr Taylor’s family shared with police their concerns that the death might be linked to others in the area, as did the coroner.
In fact, his sisters kept notes of their own investigations, establishing similarities between the four deaths, referencing GHB and identifying Port’s address in Cooke Street.
The family were particularly suspicious that Mr Taylor – who wanted to become a policeman and was said to be resolutely anti-drugs – had apparently taken something on the night he died.
But their suggestions were dismissed by police who said there was ‘no reason to think they are connected’.
It was only when a detective working on the Walgate investigation chanced upon a print-out of a CCTV still of Mr Taylor with a ‘mystery man’ on the night he was last seen alive that he recognised him as Port and made the link with Mr Walgate’s death.
Another officer then linked them with the Kovari and Whitworth investigations.
Met police assistant commissioner Helen Ball speaks to the media after the conclusion Barking Town Hall today after verdict
‘What we suspected to be true, which was that these three boys could have been still walking around today had they investigated Anthony’s (death) properly.
‘They’re not and that is a huge tragedy.’
Loved ones of the four men have accused the Metropolitan Police of homophobia over the series of failings in its investigations into the deaths.
Mrs Whitworth said that officers had made assumptions that the victims had been to chemsex parties because they were gay and had drugs planted on them.
Referring to homophobia, she said: ‘There is an element of that there.
‘Whether they’re aware of it or not, it is there.
‘The boys were depersonalised. There’s lots of ingredients in this particular recipe, but that’s one of them.’
She and Daniel’s father both criticised the attitude of several of the officers who gave evidence at the inquests.
Mr Whitworth said: ‘Even right up to date now in these new inquests at Barking, still by the evidence they’ve given and their indifferent attitude and the evidence that’s ranged from mindless to indifferent and bordering on criminal in places really.
‘They’ve proved that they’re still unfit for duty.
‘Still, even now. They’ve no idea that they’ve got a case to answer.’
Referring to officers based in Barking, he said: ‘The fact remains that while they’re still on duty, the wider Met has got a problem, they are tarnished.
‘It’s a big blot on their reputation.’
Mrs Whitworth added: ‘We didn’t know what to expect from the inquest, but it really has been an eye opener.
‘With the way they’ve given evidence and the way some of them, well a lot of them, have just been a bit shoulder-shrugging.
‘I wasn’t expecting that.’
The Met police says that the nine officers who were identified as having performance failings were properly dealt with by their managers.
‘The six who remain with the Met today have been checked again recently and are meeting expected standards.
Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball apologised on behalf of the Met but denied the force was homophobic.
She said: ‘We don’t see institutional homophobia.
‘We don’t see homophobia on the part of our officers.
‘We do see all sorts of errors in the investigation, which came together in a truly dreadful way.’
Port’s killing spree began when he hired fashion student Mr Walgate, from Hull, as an escort.
Instead, Port killed him, dragged his body outside and called 999 anonymously, claiming to have found him collapsed as he was passing.
The families of Stephen Port’s victims at Barking Town Hall in east London, after an inquest jury found that police failures in the investigation into the death of Port’s first victim Anthony Walgate ‘probably’ contributed to the death of three further young men
Pictured: Stephen Port now 46, was handed a whole-life order in 2016 for the murders of Anthony Walgate, 23, Mr Kovari, 22, Daniel Whitworth, 21, and Mr Taylor, 25
Pictured: The spot in the walled cemetery at St Margaret’s church, Barking, where Mr Kovari’s body was found – the body of Daniel Whitworth, 21, was also later found here
Requests were rejected for a specialist homicide team to take over the case, which was instead left in the hands of borough officers.
Port was swiftly identified as the caller but in a police interview concocted another web of lies.
A basic check on the police national database would have flagged up Port as a suspected rapist and his involvement in a suspicious incident at Barking station days before.
Port’s laptop computer, which would have revealed his obsession with rape pornography, was not examined for many months.
Port was charged with perverting the course of justice and given bail.
It meant he was free to lure Slovakian Mr Kovari to his flat on the false promise of a room to rent.
Port dumped his body in St Margaret’s churchyard, where a dog walker made the grim discovery in August 2014.
Three weeks later, the same dog walker found Kent chef Mr Whitworth in almost exactly the same spot.
Port planted a fake suicide note on his body suggesting Mr Whitworth had accidentally killed Mr Kovari.
Port was later jailed for perverting the course of justice, but was freed to kill Mr Taylor. Mr Taylor’s sisters launched their own investigation and pushed officers to do more.
Leni Morris, CEO of LGBT+ anti-abuse charity Galop, said today: ‘It’s a common experience for members of the LGBT+ community to have been subjected to some form of anti-LGBT+ prejudice as part of our interaction with an institution, whether that’s in healthcare, education, or a police response.
‘In the case of the Stephen Port investigation, it’s clear to see that there were assumptions made about the victims – because they were young, gay men – around hook-up apps, drug use, and the disregard of evidence from friends and family.
‘All of this amounted to an unacceptable delay in the connection of the victims, the investigation of the case, and ultimately the identification of the perpetrator.
‘We need to get out of a victim-blaming narrative around all forms of sexual violence, and get to a place where we ensure all victims receive a fair and equal response, whoever they are.’