Police 'were warned of alleged gay dating app serial killer in January'

Accused: Stephen Port is charged with four counts of murder
Sky News
Robin de Peyer20 October 2015
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Scotland Yard was warned about an alleged serial killer who is said to have used gay dating websites to lure four men to their deaths before a murder probe was launched, it has been claimed.

Stephen Port, 40, is accused of drugging and murdering four men after a series of deaths between June last year and September this year.

The website Pink News has now revealed its staff contacted police about an alleged link between three of the deaths as long ago as January this year – before a fourth man was killed last month.

At the time, police said there was “nothing suspicious” linking the deaths of the three young men, whose bodies were each found in and around St Margaret's Church yard in Barking.

Pink News said it decided not to run the story after receiving assurances from the Met that detectives were not looking for anybody else in connection with the deaths.

Port is accused of drugging and murdering those three men - Anthony Walgate, 23, Gabriel Kovari, 22 and Daniel Whitworth, 21 – as well as Jack Taylor, 25, who was found dead in September.

Mr Kovari’s former flatmate had reportedly contacted Pink News to alert them to the fact that the former artist had been using the dating app Grindr.

Nick Duffy, Pink News' UK editor, wrote that the website made enquiries after receiving the information in December last year.

He added: "At the time, the Metropolitan Police were treating the deaths as separate incidents with “nothing suspicious” to link them, and were not looking for anyone else in connection with them. PinkNews took the decision not to print a story about the claims.”

Scotland Yard has announced it has referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission watchdog in relation to its handling of the case.

It said in a statement: “The Metropolitan Police Service has made a voluntary referral to the Independent Police Complaints Commission concerning the murder of four men in Barking between 19 June 2014 and 14 September 2015.

"The referral informs the IPCC of potential vulnerabilities in the response by the MPS to the four deaths.

"We await a mode of investigation from the IPCC."

Port, of Cooke Street, Barking, in east London, appeared in court on Monday charged with four counts of murder and four counts of administering a poison with intent to endanger life or inflict grievous bodily harm.

It is alleged he gave the men large amounts of the party drug GHB which they overdosed on. He then dumped their bodies, it is claimed.

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