Senior police officer apologises for ‘substandard’ investigation into deaths

Serial killer Stephen Port killed four men with overdoses of the drug GHB (Picture: PA )

A senior Met Police officer apologised for the ‘substandard’ investigation into the deaths of two young gay men in almost identical circumstances less than a month apart, an inquest heard.

Stephen Port, who will spend the rest of his life in prison for murdering four men and sexually assaulting several others, began taking the illegal drug GHB in late 2013.

He then used overdoses of the drug to kill Anthony Walgate, 23, Gabriel Kovari, 22, Daniel Whitworth, 21, and final victim Jack Taylor, 25, between June 2014 and September 2015.

‘The Grindr Killer’ dumped their bodies near his flat in Barking, East London, where they were all found.

He was given a rare whole life order in 2016 at the Old Bailey, and the inquests into his victims’ deaths are now ongoing at Barking Town Hall.

Sean Wilson, former deputy borough commander for Barking in east London in summer 2014, said today the investigation ‘could have engaged with’ the LGBT community more.

Mr Wilson also retracted comments he made that both men were possible users of GHB, the drug serial killer Stephen Port used to murder the pair, as well as two other men, before he was eventually brought to a halt.

Gabriel Kovari was a ‘very smart, talented, kind person’ said his brother Adam (Picture: PA)

Daniel Whitworth’s grandmother said he was ‘truly a godsend’ (Picture: PA)

Inquests into the four deaths, at Barking Town Hall, are examining if police could have stopped Port sooner with different methods.

The inquest jury heard Mr Wilson arranged a special meeting of key personnel on September 22 2014, two days after Mr Whitworth’s body had been found in a Barking graveyard with a suicide note claiming responsibility for Mr Kovari’s death the previous month.

It had been written by Port to cover his tracks.

An adviser on rough sleeping was invited to attend, but no LGBT community member was called for their perspective.

Mr Wilson said: ‘With hindsight, yes, we could have engaged them (the LGBT community) far more.’

He then added Mr Kovari and Mr Whitworth ‘engaged in’ the use of GHB, which he said was not an LGBT-specific issue.

Beatrice Collier, counsel to the inquest, said the drugs were only found in the victims’ systems because Port had illegally given GHB to the pair.

Mr Wilson replied: ‘Possibly,’

No, definitely,’ said Ms Collier.

Mr Wilson replied: ‘Then I need to retract that.

‘Yes, we should have been far more proactive with the LGBT community and that is one of the lessons we need to learn from this tragedy.’

Anthony Walgate was Port’s first victim, and had moved to London in 2010 to study (Picture: PA)

Jack Taylor was ‘always the one who looked after us’ to his family (Picture: PA)

The inquests previously heard friends of Mr Walgate, Port’s first victim, say they believed police let ‘unconscious bias and assumptions’ affect their investigation because of his sexuality and his work as an escort.

Mr Wilson, concluding his evidence on Wednesday, said: ‘I would like to apologise to the families.

‘The investigation on the borough at the time was substandard.

‘I hope in the future that somehow there can be a reconsideration of the failings.

‘We are in a far better place now, but please accept my apologies.’

The inquests continue.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

from News – Metro https://ift.tt/3BGHUsQ