Stephen Port

Stephen Port (born 22 February 1975) is a British convicted serial rapist and serial killer. He was responsible for the murder of four men and for committing multiple rapes. Port received a life sentence with a whole life order on 25 November 2016, meaning he will never be released. The four men murdered by Port were: 1. Anthony Walgate, 23, a fashion student originally from Hull, who on occasion worked as an escort. 2.Gabriel Kovari, 22, who had moved to London from Slovakia and had briefly lived with Port. 3. Daniel Whitworth, 21, from Gravesend in Kent, who worked as a chef. 4. Jack Taylor, 25, who lived with his parents in Dagenham, and worked as a forklift truck driver.

The bodies of the last three of the four murder victims were found in the graveyard of the church of St Margaret of Antioch in Barking. Port used gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), a date rape drug, adding it to drinks given to his victims, raped them, and murdered four of them in his flat in Barking. The prosecution said "postmortem examinations on the four young men who died revealed that each had died from a drug overdose featuring high levels of GHB", but Port surreptitiously used other drugs on his victims: amyl nitrite (poppers), Viagra, mephedrone, and methamphetamine (crystal meth) .

There were significant failures in the initial investigations into each of the deaths and it was only through persistent work by the dead men's relatives that a fresh police investigation led to the conviction of Port.

In 2017 the BBC aired the documentary 'How Police Missed the Grindr Killer' which examined the botched investigation into Port's murders. In January 2022 BBC TV broadcast a three part drama about the case called 'Four Lives' .

In April 2022 it was announced that the national police approach to investigating unexplained deaths was to be reformed following the inquests for victims of serial killer Stephen Port .

In June 2022 the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) announced it was reopening its investigation into the way the enquiry was conducted . Their report was published in April 2023 .