All language subtitles for murder.at.first.swipe.2024.1080p.web.h264-cbfm

[clock ticks]

[dramatic music]

[phone rings]

- [Operator]
Emergency ambulance,

What's the address
of the emergency?

- [Caller] Cooke Street,
there's a young boy.

Looks like he's
collapsed outside.

- [Operator] Outside
of which number?

- [Caller] 47-58.

- [Operator] Sorry?

- [Caller] 47-58 I think.

- [Operator] 47 Cooke Street?

- Yeah.
- What area?

- [Caller] Barking.

[sombre music]

It looks like he's
collapsed or...

had a seizure or something

or is just drunk.

- [Operator] Okay, what's
the telephone number

you're calling from?

- [Caller] I'm just [mumbles]
in my car, I got to get...

I've got to get my
car from the parking.

- [Operator] Right,
don't worry about that.

What's the telephone
number you're calling from?

[phone beeps]

Hello?

[siren wails]

[phone rings]

Hi?

- [Caller] Hello?

- [Operator] Hello, it's
the ambulance service.

We were cut off there.

Can you confirm the location?

[intense music]

- [Caller] Oh, I've
just driven away now.

- [Operator] Where was it
that they were outside of?

- [Caller] Erm, Cooke Street.

- [Operator] What door number?

- [Caller] I don't know,
I just, I didn't look.

- [Operator] You said 47 before.

- [Caller] Yep. Yep, 47, yep.

[intense music]

- [Operator] Do you
know if he was awake?

- [Caller] No.

- [Operator] Do you know
if he was breathing?

- [Caller] No, I don't know.

[intense music]

[siren wails]

[sombre music]

- I am Anthony Neil.

I was the first clinician
on scene at Cooke Street

for the London
Ambulance Service.

[siren wails]

I was driving around the estate.

There was lots of parked cars,

but there was no one
sort of wandering about,

it was deserted.

And I called back my control

so that they can call back
the person that called this in

to get a better location.

[phone rings]

- [Caller] Hello?

- [Operator] Hello sir,
it's the ambulance service.

Sorry to bother you again.

It was definitely Cooke Street
that the patient was on?

- [Caller] Yes, definitely,
yeah 'cause I passed him.

I passed him and it
was Cooke street.

- [Operator] Okay, no
worries, no worries.

Just wanted to be sure.

Thank you for your help.

Sorry to bother you again.

[intense eerie music]

- Outside of the
second block of flats

appear to me what looked
like some bin bags

against the entrance.

But as I approached closer,

I could see that it
was in fact a person.

I noticed he was
sat cross-legged

in a sat upright position
leaning against the wall.

I couldn't see his face
because he had a hoodie

and that was
obscuring any vision.

As soon as I saw his face,
I knew he was deceased.

You automatically touch them,
you're looking for a pulse,

but I could feel the
rigour mortis in his jaw

and then looking at his
eyes, there were lifeless.

So yeah, he'd been dead
for a good few hours.

Then I stepped back 'cause I
thought, this is not right,

this is suspicious.

So I called it into the police

to preserve a
potential crime scene.

[suspenseful music]

[intense music]

- When I finished
work that morning,

one of my colleagues
dropped me off

and I got outta the car,
walked across the road,

there was police everywhere.

My name's Glen and
I live in Barking.

For the life of me now,
I'm a cheerful guy.

I said, "Who's died?"

[sad music]

And the officer asked
me where I was going.

I said, "Oh, I'm staying
at Cooke Street."

He took me over
to another officer

and asked me if I
knew a Stephen Port.

I said, "Yes, he's my flatmate."

I said, "I'm staying
on his sofa."

"Do you know where he is?"

I said, "Probably in bed."

I said, "I don't know,
I've just finished work."

I said, "You've just seen
me get outta the car."

They said, "Okay,"

he said, "could you let
us into the property?"

[dramatic music]

[intense music]

- Looking through
the case notes,

Stephen Port's name
came up quite quickly

because he made that
initial 999 call.

My name is Parm Sandhu.

I'm a former chief
superintendent

from the Metropolitan Police.

On the initial call, Stephen
Port said he was in a car

and he was driving past
and he saw a young man

and he believed he
was having a seizure.

- [Port] Looks like
he collapsed or...

had a seizure or something

or is just drunk.

- [Operator] What's
the telephone number

you're calling from?

[phone clicks]

Hello?

- The call was then traced back
to an address and a vehicle

in that locality

and that's why Stephen
Port was identified.

[eerie music]

- Stephen was in bed,
he was sound asleep.

So I've had to wake him up

and told him that the police
are at the front door.

He was being interviewed.

I heard Stephen say he came
home from work that night

and see the young
gentleman outside.

He slapped him around the
face a couple of times

to try arouse him but couldn't,

so he called 999.

[sombre music]

- I am Sarah Sak,
Anthony, Walgate's mother.

Anthony was very
loud, very funny,

and a very good friend.

If he was your friend,
he'd be friend for life.

He studied fashion
and design at college,

got himself a place at
London at the college there

and moved down and
he absolutely loved

every minute of being there.

The odd time he
came back to Hull,

he used to say, we
were Sleepy Hollow.

He said, "I don't know
you can bear living here.

Everybody's so slow.

It's so quiet."

And I don't think he'd
have ever left London.

[sombre music continues]

[gentle piano music]

I went to Turkey on holiday.

We were getting ready to
go out on our last night

and I turned my phone back on.

There was 50 odd missed calls,

there was texts, there
was hundreds and hundreds

of messages coming through
that you need to ring home,

you know, something's happened.

So I called my son

and he had to tell
me over the phone

that Anthony had
been found dead.

[gentle piano music continues]

[siren wails]

- He was a young person and
young people don't just die.

And the only sort
of injuries apparent

was he had blood
around his mouth,

which I felt may be
consistent with a seizure,

but why would he be sat up?

If it was an assault,
he wouldn't be sat up,

if they were drunk and
aspirated on their vomit,

they wouldn't be sat up.

So the positioning where he was

and because he'd been
there for a few hours,

yeah, it just didn't add up.

- Anthony's body had
his midriff exposed,

it showed signs
of being dragged,

there was bruising under the
armpits from the dragging.

I'm Sebastian Murphy-Bates,

I was a reporter at the
Barking and Dagenham Post.

His underwear was on inside
out and back to front,

his trouser zip was open.

There's just so
many things about it

that if you explain
that to a normal person

who's not a police officer,

they would say, well
that's a bit weird.

It's like someone's
dressed him in a rush

or in a panic and
then dumped the body.

- I arrived back in the UK

at about seven o'clock
the next morning.

The first call I made
was to DS O'Donnell

and I'd said, "What's happened?"

And he just said, "At the
moment, we don't know anything.

Anthony was found
dead in the street."

I said, "Well, you know, was
he stabbed, shot, beaten?

What?"

"No, nothing, there
was not a mark on him

and we don't know why.

Nothing's come up
on the postmortem.

What we're gonna do is send off

for a further tox screen on it,

but it could take a few weeks."

So I said to him
straight away then,

"Something's not right."

I said, "I'm telling ya,
if he hasn't been attacked,

something's not right here."

- Any unexplained death
with a young adult,

you would look at maybe
being a drug overdose.

So when they did mention, do
you think it's a drug overdose?

I think I initially said no

because of the way
he was positioned.

If he was laying on the
floor, then yes, of course.

I said, "I don't
know how he's died

because it's not obvious."

I knew something wasn't right
and I told the police that.

- I said to Stephen,

"It was shame about
that young man outside."

It's not very often someone
on your own doorstep

is found now.

Yes it is a crying shame.

He went, "I hope they
find whoever's responsible

or if he's taken anything,

hope they find out
what's happened to him."

[eerie music]

- I'm Ryan Edwards and
I was Stephen Port's

friend and neighbour.

When I first moved
into the area,

it was coming up to the summer.

So this tree that you can see

wasn't as as fully grown when
I was here originally in 2005

and I could see Stephen's
ground floor flat patio area.

When I was walking past one day

and Stephen was out there
attending to his plants,

I took the opportunity
to introduce myself

and I think very quickly,

we established that
we were both gay.

I can't quite remember how
that conversation went,

but I said, "Oh, it'd be
nice to catch up sometime."

And it sort of, it just grew
quite organically really.

- When he first came
in, I see this guy there

that's quite
muscley, quite tall,

and me being only
five foot four,

five foot five was
standing next to this

like six foot, six man.

I was like, "You alright?

How are ya?" [laughs]

But it was like standing
next to a friendly giant.

- He had a very
distinctive walk actually.

It was a slightly awkward gait

and I quickly kind of
colloquially nicknamed him

with my other friends
as almost like the BFG,

the big friendly giant,

'cause he was so large,
but so softy spoken.

- You'd have to make
conversation with him

to actually talk to him.

Otherwise you'd get more
conversation out of a wall.

than you would
actually, Stephen.

He wasn't one to socialise.

He'd keep himself to himself.

[intense music]

- I was thinking he might be
a possible wing man for me

in terms of going out
and chatting to guys.

And unfortunately, Stephen
was very ill at ease

in that environment.

It's almost like it
was the first time

he'd ever walked into a gay bar.

He would sort of clam up
and it was to the point of

being sort of
excruciating because he
would almost turn away

or look at his phone.

It was, I felt,
bordering on rude.

So I quickly realised actually
this type of socialising

is not gonna work
for me and Stephen.

So perhaps limiting
it to a coffee at his

or a coffee at mine

is probably about as
adventurous as we can be.

- [Glen] Stephen wanted
always, always to look good.

- He would often
change his hairstyle

and he'd be like, oh
yeah neighbour, you know,

I like to look good for my boys.

- He'd pose in the mirror

and I caught him one day and
I'm like, "What you doing?

He went, "I'm posing."

and he's like this and I went,

"What are you doing?
No need to do that

You look fine," I
went, "Leave off."

He was very vain.

- Stephen I presume had
a very high sexual drive.

He was certainly meeting
guys all the time

and they were definitely
quite a set type.

So he would often say to me,
"Hey neighbour, come round

and meet my new
boy, my new guy."

He would often refer
to them as boys

and they were quite young.

They were often sort of
19, 20, often like a twink.

So they were sort of
quite slim in gay parlance

you know, non-hairy
type of thing.

So that definitely seemed
to be Stephen's type.

[eerie music]

- Anthony Walgate was skint,

like many students,

especially if you're moving
from the north to London,

it is a big culture shock

and everything's a
lot more expensive.

He had started working
occasionally as an escort.

[eerie music]

- If he was going
to meet somebody,

he would always
tell his friends.

[messages ping]

[intense music]

He would tell 'em where he
is going, who he's meeting,

and he was just so cautious.

- He also showed
his friend a picture

of the profile from the website

that they had used to meet.

He went there expecting
a lot of money,

but he felt that it was
important to take precautions.

[eerie music]

[sombre music]

- I was so sure that
this was a murder.

I just knew something was wrong

and so did his best friends.

We constantly were
saying to the police,

I mean the police at one
point told his best friend,

China, to stop asking questions

that you weren't
getting answers to.

And that was a couple of
days after Anthony had died.

I said, "China's told
you who he was meeting.

Given the name, the
address and everything."

No.

They'd found these
drugs in Anthony's bag.

The bottle of liquid they
just automatically assumed

it was Anthony's.

It was GHB.

So after finding this
out, it was obvious

just a young gay
lad into Chemsex

and that's how they saw it.

It was quite clear
to us from day one

it was an open and
shut case to 'em

and they would not
entertain any other idea.

- As soon as you
start mentioning
those words, you know,

Chemsex, gay, sexual activity,
there are certain labels

that are used to stereotype
behaviours and people

and it does have an influence

in how police treat
certain investigations.

That is the cold
hard truth about it.

- There are just some
really basic errors made

and it just
highlights this issue

that honestly we
see quite regularly

where there are inexperienced
police officers going out,

making assumptions and
then looking for evidence

to support those assumptions.

In this case, being
that it was an overdose,

despite the fact that
there was a lot of evidence

that would imply otherwise.

I am Dr. Honor Doro Townshend
and I am a criminologist.

Anthony had actually
showed a friend a picture

of the person he
was going to meet.

This same friend
goes to the police,

she's able to give a
description of the person

that he's meeting

and then when shown a
picture of Stephen Port,

identifies him as the person
that Anthony was going to meet.

- Port used an alias
when he hired Anthony.

He called himself Joe Dean.

He's asked about his
involvement with Anthony

and says, "I hired
him as an escort.

I panicked when I realised
that he was dead."

He admits that he
moved the body outside.

Now the police seem to
believe pretty quickly

that he lied to them
because he freaked out

'cause there was a
dead body in his flat.

- Port was the last
person to see Anthony

and it just seemed to be that
everything Port's ever said

to any of the police that they
totally and utterly believed.

[intense music]

- Within the first few
interactions he's had

with the police, he's created
three different narratives.

At first, he was
walking past the body,

then actually no,

he'd found the body
and he'd moved it

because it was blocking
his entrance to the flat.

Well then his story shifts
once again and he says,

"No, actually I was
having sex with Anthony

and he overdosed."

- He said that he
would pay Anthony £800

to stay for the night.

If you are a skint student

and you're thinking
it's one night,

it's 800 quid,

the impression that would
be in my mind at least

is, "I'm going meeting somebody
who can afford to splash

800 quid on one night with me.

That's a successful person.

That's somebody who
can afford to do that."

[intense music]

- I did have a lot of questions

and I was saying to the police,

"Right, so did he have £800?"

They said, "No.

He was overdrawn at the bank.

He didn't have any money."

So I said, "Right,
so you believed him?"

"Yeah, of course. "

And then he was saying

that Port had said Anthony had
taken this drug and was sick.

So he'd gone back to the
bathroom and taken some more.

And I knew this was wrong.

Anthony had this
phobia about being sick

from being a small child

and I said, "If Anthony's
sick, he would've rung.

Something's not right."

[intense music]

- What Port is doing is he's
going along with the fact

that the police are
already considering this

as non-suspicious.

Now they just need
Port's evidence

to match what they
think probably happened.

And so they're
actually giving him

these little tidbits
of information,

he's matching his stories

and they're not
questioning the fact

that he's changing these stories

when they absolutely should be.

It should be alarm
bells ringing.

- [Reader] "I sent him
photos of myself via WhatsApp

and my home address using a
registered phone in my name.

If I'd really intended to
harm him by drugging him,

I wouldn't have
been that silly."

- He didn't send
him his address.

He didn't, he did send
him a false address,

he made himself younger,
he changed his name

whatever reason that
might have been for

and you could look at that

and think maybe he's
just being cautious.

But the other thing
is that you could look

at it and say was Port
from that moment on,

aware that there could be
a risk posed to Anthony

by him coming to
Port's property?

[intense music]

- As far as Barking and
Dagenham police were concerned,

there was nothing suspicious
about the circumstances

of Anthony's death.

They bought the idea
that he had taken drugs

of his own volition,

he'd taken too much and
he had died as a result.

[intense music]

- I found it really,
really frustrating

because if the police
aren't helping you,

what are you supposed to do?

You know, who do you turn to?

I did actually turn
to my MP at one point

and said to him, you
know, "Something's wrong.

My son was murdered and
they won't do anything."

- My name's Carl Turner, I'm
the labour MP for East Hull.

From very early, Sarah was
saying it was homophobia.

She was convinced the
Met were not doing

what they ought to be doing
because the lad was gay.

I thought that was
just not likely,

but she thought she was right

and she constantly
raised the issue.

We made representations
to the Met,

but the responses were just,
there's nothing to see.

Everything's fine.

- Every time, "There's
nothing to investigate."

and you know, at least
try and investigate.

- When the toxicology
results came back,

they did show that
Anthony Walgate had

a massive amount of
GHB in his system

and that is what
caused his death.

So that would support
the original theory

that this was a gay
young man engaged

in sexual activity
and drug taking.

- Sarah knew that he was
adverse to drug taking.

She said he wouldn't take a
paracetamol and I believed her.

Did I believe that her
son had been murdered?

I didn't think she
was lying about that

or that she'd jumped
to a conclusion

that might not be right,
but I didn't have a view.

I just thought the Met Police
will be doing everything

that they need to do to ensure

that the lad's
not been murdered.

[siren wails]

[intense music]

- What I think is really clear

from looking at the
police investigation

is a fundamental
lack of understanding

of the LGBTQ+
community at the time.

- I'm Duncan and I am five
years into my recovery

from a Chemsex addiction.

As soon as the
hookup apps came in,

it's all GPS located.

It became my experience,

it sort of became
less about dating

and a lot more about just
hooking up with somebody

for some casual sex.

[intense music]

- There's clubs
that you can go to,

there's saunas we can go to,

there's apps that tell you
where the nearest person is.

It's very easy for us to
have consensual hookups

and we can do it on demand.

- It was always a bit
of a mystery to me

how Stephen was
meeting so many guys

and yet the Stephen that I
knew was very socially awkward.

I did notice when I was often
round there for coffees,

he was always on a platform.

- Stephen Port had a way
of making you feel relaxed.

He had a soothing
voice, he was quiet,

he wasn't in your face.

We met through Dad's
Lads, that's a website

that doesn't even exist anymore.

And the idea was we're
gonna have a threesome.

I met him at his place,

he seemed really normal,

like he had his
flat, he had his car,

he was just a normal guy.

And then we waited for
his boyfriend to come home

and then tried to get intimate,

but it just felt all wrong.

It just felt really,

when you don't
gel, you don't gel.

In the end I was like,
"Look, I'm tired.

I'm gonna go home."

And that was the
first encounter.

[eerie music]

- Stephen was often
having other boys over

and they would
call their friends,

they'd all go in the
bedroom together.

I remember one night I
was in the front room

and you could hear everything.

It's not something
that, you know,

I wanted to hear really.

- As the friendship
wore on in the years,

I noticed that he became
a little bit more serious,

I guess you could say.

He started focusing more
on discussions about men,

almost becoming a bit obsessed.

[intense music]

- The apps can be
quite addictive,

I guess like any apps on
our phones, on, you know,

social media apps, we can just
keep scrolling and scrolling

and then of course,
there's online,

a lot of people taking drugs

and so if there is
that temptation there

as there was for myself,

then that then starts to
become a bit problematic

because then the two go
together, sex and drugs.

[eerie music]

- He would go out, come
back about 40 minutes later,

and he'd go straight
to the fridge

and put something in the fridge.

So I've looked up on the shelf
like you know, as I would,

and there was two
little blue bottles.

He said they was medication.

I asked him if can borrow
some nail clippers one day

and he's lent over
to his bedside table

and opened his drawer

and there were seven
little blue bottles.

And I thought, that's
a lot of medication.

- It would be very unfair to say

that the whole gay community
are involved in Chemsex

because not everybody takes
drugs or wants to take drugs

and some people are very
clear about not wanting to.

- I don't do Chemsex.

That's a no go for me.

Usually you send a message,
you ask for pictures,

you get pictures, there's
kinks, there's fetishes,

you discuss all that
before you go, you know,

you kind of set some boundaries

and the other person
will either respect it

and still invite you or say,
"Sorry, this ain't for me."

And you kind of move
on to the next person

and hope to get lucky with them.

- The main drugs that are used
in Chemsex are crystal meth,

which is also known
as Tina and T and GHB,

also known as G.

[eerie music]

- I'm Dr. Simon Elliott,
I'm a forensic toxicologist.

One of the big problems
with GHB is the dose,

dose maketh the poison,

i.e. it's the dose that matters.

- I remember
knocking on the door

and Stephen was normally
very quick to the door.

On this occasion, he wasn't.

And eventually he opened
it and he looked dreadful.

He looked like he barely slept.

He led me through
into the kitchen.

I immediately noticed there
was a really large container

on the coffee table

and there were lots of
bags with white powder

and lots of small vials
of some sort of liquid.

And the boyfriend comes through

and the boyfriend looks
completely out of it.

Definitely under the
influence of drugs.

It's not a situation
I'm comfortable in,

so I'm thinking I want to get
myself out of this situation

really quickly.

[eerie music]

- Chemsex isn't just
sex and drugs together,

Chemsex is all of the other
stuff that goes with it.

You know, the consequences,
the come downs,

all the stuff that
happens in between a binge

and in the middle of
a binge and you know,

walking around streets at night

trying to find your next hookup

and sitting at bus stops

pretending that you're
waiting for a bus,

but you're actually
just looking and looking

to see where you can go
next and get more drugs.

And you know,
that's also Chemsex.

- At the hospital,

we were having patients
being admitted in coma.

So very unconscious,
intoxicated by GHB.

Then medical staff
would do their utmost

to try and keep them breathing
and keep their heart going

until the drug leaves their body

and then they
subsequently wake up

and then can be
discharged safely.

If people haven't
got hospital care,

if the dose is too high,

then that sleep can
easily turn into death.

- My name's Emily Penning,

I'm the Old Bailey correspondent

for the Press
Association News Agency.

I knew nothing about
the Chemsex scene,

I knew next to
nothing about GHB.

So for me, it was a
huge learning curve.

And also, you know, I
knew nothing at that stage

about the victims.

[eerie music]

Gabriel Kovari had
come over from Slovakia

and he wanted to become
a English teacher

and you know, he
was very artistic.

- Slovakia is a much more

socially conservative
place than London.

He came to London and he
was hoping to find himself,

be more out, if we
can put it that way,

than in his home country.

He was so keen on
living in London,

that he was prepared to
sleep rough if it came to it.

- He told his friends that
he'd been offered a room

and a flat in Barking
as a flatmate for free.

[messages ping]

Which among his friends
raised a few eyebrows

and they were slightly, they
were slightly concerned.

But you know, he was determined.

[messages ping]

[eerie music]

- Around 2014, Stephen
started changing

his mobile number
quite frequently,

which was a a bit annoying

and I wondered why.

It was prior to one of
these number changes,

he messaged me and said,

you know, "Hey neighbour"...
- "Hey neighbour,

Come meet my new
Slovakian twink flatmate

tonight or tomos."

- [Ryan] I say, "Okay."

He replies to say...

- [Reader] "He's 22, quite
cute, tall and skinny."

- Then I message,
"I will pop later."

[intense music]

Gabriel was
different to the guys

that Stephen would
typically meet.

He was intelligent,
articulate, he was driven,

wanted to do things
with his life,

really nice, very chatty.

[messages ping]

[intense music]

[intense music continues]

[messages ping]

There was a little bit of
tension between him and Stephen.

I quickly picked up for example,

that Gabriel did not
find Stephen attractive

and Gabriel was
quite twink-like.

So I presume that Stephen
did find Gabriel attractive,

but I thought to myself,

well Stephen's gonna
be out of luck there.

[intense music]

At one point Stephen went
out to go to the toilet.

Gabriel lent over to me

and sort of almost in a
hushed tone said to me,

"Stephen is not the man
you think he is, Ryan.

He's not a nice guy,

he's not a nice person."

And before I could kind
of elaborate on that,

Stephen came back into the room.

I was a bit concerned
for Gabriel.

I found him on Grindr and
I messaged him and I said,

"Listen, if things are not
working out with Stephen,

if you want to stay at mine
for a couple of nights,

then you'd be more
than welcome."

And he replied
back to me to say,

"Oh yeah, that'd be
really, really good.

Thank you very much."

[messages ping]

[intense music]

The next morning, I
messaged Gabriel to say,

"What's the latest?"

And I didn't get any response

back from Gabriel at that time.

On the 26th of August, 2014,

I get a message from a
number I don't recognise.

- [Reader] "My new
number, delete other one.

Stephen, your neighbour."

- This is after I've
just met Gabriel.

So I replied to say,
"How is Gabriel?"

And then Stephen
replies to say...

- [Reader] "He's gone to
stay with another local guy.

He gets around a lot."

- This seemed very quick to me.

So I replied to say, "Oh blimey.

Who did he stay
with? Do you know?"

And Stephen replied.
- "No,

some soldier guy he fancied.

He's been chatting
to him online.

Shame, I really liked him."

[sad music]

[water trickles]

- My name is Barbara Denham

and I've lived in barking for
over 35 years, since 1988.

There you go puppy.

Every day since having a dog,

first job is, more or
less, walk the dog,

walk the dog, come back,
come in to eat breakfast.

Usually I go up the road
from here through the alley

and walk the dog around
Barking Abbey Grounds

and that's segregated
into four separate parts.

So you've got the
field this side,

then Barking Abbey Ruins,

and then you've
got the church yard

and then there's another
field the other side.

[eerie music]

I came in, turned left again
to follow the path around

and I saw a young chap sitting,

well much as I'm sitting now,

head down, back
against the wall,

and I just thought,

he's probably sleeping
off from the night before.

He had dark black hair,

dark glasses on that
were skew-whiff.

And I'm walking past
there and I thought,

I dunno, it seemed strange.

He never moved a
muscle, not a muscle.

I don't what it was,

but I decided to turn back and
try and catch his attention.

So I've clapped me hands

and sort of did a yoo-hoo,

not a muscle, not a flicker
of the eyes or anything.

There was no blood,
no injury, no nothing,

but I really seriously thought
there's something wrong.

And I never thought for a
minute a medical problem.

I just, I don't know why
I assumed he was dead.

- This is the body
of Gabriel Kovari.

He's died from a
fatal overdose of GHB.

[phone rings]

- The call came in
just after nine o'clock

and just before three
o'clock that same day,

the crime scene is closed down.

The case is closed down as
being an unexplained death

and not a suspicious death.

So it's closed down
very, very quickly.

For a young man to be
found dead in the street,

you know, in the space of
what, five or six hours,

it's closed down and treated
as an unexplained death.

[sad music]

- I didn't have anybody around
me at the time to talk with.

I had to sit down with me
cup of tea and slice of toast

or whatever and let it soak in

of what I've discovered
and what had happened.

But yeah, it was
a bit of a shock.

- The police's interpretation
of Gabriel Kovari's death,

like the interpretation
of Anthony Walgate's death

was that it was not suspicious.

He had died of an overdose

and that was all they knew.

[intense music]

- [Ryan] On the 30th
of August, 2014,

Stephen replies to say...

- [Reader] "Have you seen
Gabe around Barking at all?

Been trying to contact him,

but his phone been
off a couple days."

- And then I replied to say,
"No, he hasn't got back to me."

Stephen follows up by saying...

- [Reader] "Please keep
trying to contact him.

I was not sure if
he's just blocking me.

Worried about him."

- It seems genuine because
Stephen is showing concern

about Gabriel's whereabouts,

which naturally
heightens my concern

why Gabriel has just disappeared

and I can't really let it go.

So on the 1st of September,
I reply to Stephen to say,

"So it seems like
Gabe just disappeared?

Strange, hey?"

And Stephen replies...

- [Reader] "Yeah, I haven't
heard anything from him.

He did mention going to Spain

as that's where he's
meant to be studying,

but odd, he's not
messaged at all.

I would check in police station,

but to be honest, I don't
even know his surname."

- "He's such a
nice, beautiful boy,

I just hope he's all right."

[intense music]

- Once again, he's trying
to control a narrative.

I think for the first time,

there's someone else

who's almost actively
involved in questioning.

And so he is having to come
up with a whole new story.

[intense music]

- [Ryan] On the 11th
of September, 2014,

I get a long text message
from Stephen and it says

"Hey, neighbour".
- "Hey, neighbour.

I've just heard some sad news
from one of Gabriel's friends,

that Gabe did return to Spain
to be with his boyfriend.

I didn't know either.

And he died on arrival
from an infection.

Feel so sad, he was our friend."

- I was completely taken
aback by that message

and I replied to say, "Oh
my God, that is shocking!

Thanks for letting me know."

- Ryan's been asking
so many questions.

It's starting to annoy
Port at this point.

He wants this closed,

Ryan's going to
keep on asking Port

about what's been happening

and he doesn't want
to do that anymore.

He's over it.

And so the only way to finally
fully close that chapter

is to say that Gabriel's dead.

- [Ryan] "I loved
affection with my boyfriend

and was caring
and compassionate.

My downside was that I wasn't
grateful for what I had

and continued to want more,

but never to the extent
of hurting others.

I have a genuine sense
of concern for others.

I am a good, calm,
peaceful person."

[sad music]

- [Amanda] He was a Daniel,
if that makes sense.

You know how some people
don't suit an abbreviation

and he really didn't
suit an abbreviation.

He was a shy boy.

We're Mandy and Adam Whitworth

- And we're Daniel
Whitworth's parents.

I did have an inkling from
when he was, I would say,

12 about 12ish possibly.

I thought, well, he is
probably on the other bus

as they say, you know?

That didn't worry me at all.

No, that was just
an observation.

I could think here
that's probably the case.

And it was no problem,
he was really good.

- He was a go getter.

Nothing lazy about him at all.

[sad music]

[intense music]

- I wasn't too worried
for a day or two,

but then I think it
got to three days

and it is worrying then

and there's no
answer from his phone

or anything, you know?

So.
- Yeah, I left so many

messages on that phone.
- Yeah, yeah.

It does get worrying then, yeah.

[intense music]

- Although Daniel had
been reported missing,

he was classified
as a medium risk.

Now medium risk is where there's

no actual searching going on.

But to be classified
as a medium risk,

it means you're non-suicidal.

[intense music]

- This particular
day on a Saturday

as I've come through
the entrance,

couldn't help but look
in that direction.

I was gonna walk there anyway,

but once something
like that happens,

having found one dead body,

you can't help but
think, you know,

at least there's nobody
there now every time.

And I've walked
through and I thought,

"No, I don't believe it."

[eerie music]

Another young boy sitting in
almost virtually the same place

in the same position.

I thought he just gotta
be sleeping it off, love.

I'm walking Max along
and I'm thinking,

"Well he's not moving,

there's nothing happening.

What do I do?

I can't walk away and
leave him, something,

you know, must have happened
because he's so, so pale,"

I'm thinking, "I
think he's dead."

[intense music]

But that's when I saw it looked
like he had something white

that could very
well have been paper

stuck down his shirt.

And I told the police, when
I phoned them up, I said,

"He looks like he's got a
note stuck down his shirt."

[siren wails]

- Police were
called to the scene

and they found another
young man sitting upright

and no visible signs of
injury, no signs of a struggle,

no signs of robbery or
any sort of assault,

but exactly the same area
Gabriel had been found.

[eerie music]

- I got home and
yes, it did upset me.

I just felt so bad
for the family,

for the parents,

this young boy.

And my mind was
all over the show

because I just thought
just seems strange

that another young
boy's lost his life.

Why did he die when nothing
obviously is staring at you?

[sad music]

- [Amanda] He was
found on day three,

wasn't he?
- Yeah.

- Policeman at the door.

You were in the kitchen.
- Yeah, I was getting

ready for work and I just
carried on getting ready,

and you said, oh no,
you've gotta come in here."

And it's, and you know?

I suppose I knew what
it was about really,

but didn't wanna know
type of thing, really.

[sad music]

- I answered the door to them

and they immediately
took their hats off

and my heart sank.

- [Adam] They said he's
been found in Barking

with a suicide note.

- [Amanda] You did say,
have you got the right one.

- Yeah, oh, I did, yeah.

You know, you cling
on to any hope.

I said, yeah, "You could
have the wrong person.

It might not be
Daniel." You know?

- And it was "No, no, we
found his driving licence

and what have you
in his back pocket.

We're confident that it's him.

So no, you don't have to
come and identify him."

[sad music]

And they said it looked
like an overdose...

- When Daniel's body was found,

he was found sitting
on a bedsheet.

[intense music]

He also had drugs in his pocket.

He also had the note that was
supposedly written by him.

All of that presented such a
huge amount of opportunities

for the investigation
to progress

and a huge amount of
forensic and DNA evidence

[notification dings]

- They phoned and said, they're
gonna send you a email here

with a line from the note

to see if you can
identify this handwriting.

This was Adeyemo-Phillips
was the police officer

who was dealing with that.

[intense music]

- All they did was
sent us the last line.

"I've thrown my phone
in the grass somewhere.

Sorry, everyone."

Thought it was a bit odd.

[intense music]

And we wanted to
see the whole note.

You know, when
somebody tells you

that your boy has
committed suicide,

all you can think
is why, why, why?

And that note would've
given us that reason.

- It is just a couple
of words really.

It didn't look like
his handwriting,

but he didn't really
have handwriting.

People don't write,
everything's on the screen.

You know, especially
from that little bit,

you can't identify
the handwriting.

So when she phoned back, said,

"Well, can you identify that
as his handwriting, verify it?"

And I said, "No, no I can't."

But sadly, Adeyemo-Phillips
on that day,

somehow has written down,

"Yes, the family has verified

this as Daniel's handwriting"

and all of the police
officers from that point,

they're going with
that information,

- Tragically there were
young gay men being found

allegedly with drug overdoses
in the same geographical area

within months of each other.

That should have set
alarm bells ringing.

- On the Barking Dagenham Post,
questions were being asked

whether the deaths
were being treated

as linked or at
least suspicious.

It was then that the police
came back to 'em and said,

"Well, it's unusual, but
it's not suspicious.",

which the editor
couldn't believe.

But the police are
telling you that,

that's all you can
really run with.

And to be honest, putting
in a newspaper and online,

the headline, unusual but not
suspicious about three bodies

raises questions on its own

without the journalists
saying anything.

[wind howls]

[intense music]

- After Anthony had died,
I was constantly checking

Barking and Dagenham Post.

I read the article.

I then Googled Port's address
and noticed how close it was.

I actually rang a liaison
officer who was very abrupt

and said they had nothing
to do with each other.

I said to him, "Don't you
think it's a bit coincidental?"

I said, "They're literally
next to each other."

So he said, "No".

He said that one of
them was a foreigner

and the other one didn't
even live in the area.

And that was it.

They had nothing to
do with each other.

[intense music]

- Me and Mandy
were allowed to go

and see the note.

You want to see
the suicide note.

As soon as I saw it, I said,
there's nothing in here

that identifies it as Daniel.

There isn't any
names of anybody,

nobody's mentioned, nothing,

nothing personal in it at all.

- The note detailed
that Daniel had had

a sexual relationship
with Gabriel Kovari,

that Gabriel had died,

had overdosed while
they were having sex.

And that Daniel felt
so guilty about it,

that he was now taking
an overdose of drugs.

[eerie music]

- The note said,
"Don't blame the guy

I was with last night."

So the note put this
person in there.

So that was what we
were pushing for.

Find out who this person is.

Find out, find out, find out.

So my suspicion was that's
where he got the drugs from

if indeed he'd done that

because Daniel and drugs
just don't go together.

- There was all these
suspicions immediately

about that note, which
I put to Slaymaker.

And he just turned
around and said,

"Well, you are in a
terrible state of grief",

which was true.

"So you don't really know
what you're thinking and that.

Daniel was in a terrible
state and he wrote it,

so he, you know, it might
not be as you'd expect",

and all this, he
explained it away.

- The note itself did
shape the investigation.

It gave an easy option,

it gave an easy
hypothesis and solution.

One that closed down two cases

very, very quickly
and effectively

without any more resource,
without any more investigation.

And I think it became
the easy option to adopt.

- You can't accept that
he's killed somebody

and then killed himself
three weeks later.

It just sits there like a cloud.

[eerie music]

- The police have
essentially concluded

that Gabriel and Daniel
was an isolated incident.

They're both connected,

they're not looking
for any further leads.

Now simultaneously to
this, at this time,

Port is now being charged
related to the death of Anthony

because of a local MP

that Anthony's mother
has been pursuing.

And there is this additional
pressure placed on the police

and they have to follow through.

[intense music]

- Oh my word, I've never
seen this document before.

So it's the first
time I've seen it

and it is the report to the CPS

about whether or not to charge.

And the very first page

where it's supposed to
be the basic evidence

or the facts of the case,

the first line is, "The
deceased, a male prostitute."

So I assume this
is about Anthony

and they're describing
him as a male prostitute

who died in the suspect's
bed from an overdose of GHB.

Anthony was not a
male prostitute.

I think that the fact that
there was some evidence

to say that he was working
as an escort that evening

then almost devalued him and
devalued the investigation.

And that is so sad because this
was a young man in his prime

who was trying and working hard.

He had his whole
life ahead of him.

So reading through this,

they're looking at what they
can possibly charge with

and they're considering
murder or manslaughter.

But what they've
put in this form

is that there is no evidence
of murder or manslaughter.

And that the only thing that
they could possibly consider

is wasting police time.

But they're out of time
because it's been too long.

So that the only offence,
criminal offence,

that they can consider at this
time, according to this form,

is perverting the
course of justice.

Which is what they did actually
end up charging him with.

I'm quite shocked at this.

[intense music]

- I thought that was a result

because we'd made
representations.

They'd then done as
we'd asked them to do

and investigate the matter,

they then came back with a
result that he'd been charged.

Sarah didn't feel like
she'd had a result.

And she was incredibly
particularly unhappy

about the fact that
he'd been given bail.

And she immediately said,
"They've let a murderer go free.

He's killed my son and
he's going to kill again."

[intense music]

- There's just so many
questions about it.

It doesn't make any sense.

Oh, and we've got this
guy who has lied to us.

No we'll just do him
for perverting the
course of justice.

[eerie music]

- After Port's had been charged,
I received a phone call.

He identified himself
as a senior officer

and he was very
forceful, quite firm.

He made it clear to
me that Sarah Sak

was causing the
Met a lot of work

and that my office,
my interventions

formally on their behalf was
causing a lot of work for them.

And frankly, they
didn't need it.

He wanted to tell me that
there was more of the case

than met the eye.

I said, "How do you mean?"

And he then suggested,

and I remember the turn
of phrase, he said,

"You know what type he was."

At that point, I was
incredibly furious.

I began to agree with Sarah Sak

that homophobia was involved.

[intense music]

- He got eight months,
four months in prison

and four months on licence.

When the police at the
time was telling it,

you know, it's a
very serious offence,

he could get years
in prison, et cetera,

and he didn't.

- All of a sudden,
Stephen stopped responding

to my text messages and I'd
asked one of his friends

and I gathered from there
that something had happened

and Stephen was in prison.

Given that I'd seen
the drugs in his flat,

my immediate assumption was
that it was drug related.

[intense music]

When eventually Stephen
got out and contacted me,

I was keen to know
what actually happened.

And so I texted him, I said,
"So how is everything?"

And he replied, "Really good".
- "Really good.

So nice being home.

Will definitely appreciate
freedom more now."

- But I wanted to dig further.

I'm a bit of a nosy
neighbour I have to say.

So I replied, "What
actually happened?"

And he replied...

- [Reader] "Minor offence,
just was really silly.

60 second mistake cost me
10 weeks of my life inside."

- [Ryan] "Blimey."

- [Reader] "Anyway,
at least didn't lose

my job or boyfriend."

- Port is probably realising

that he's getting
away with this.

He's actively seeing now

that the police
investigations are inadequate.

So still Port is
not under question

for actually murdering Anthony,

nor is he even being considered
in connection to the deaths

of Daniel and Gabriel.

The police have
decided this narrative

of Daniel and Gabriel
being linked together,

Daniel having committed suicide,

but this still needs
to be referred to

for coroner's court an inquest.

And so this is done
essentially to determine

officially what that
cause of death is.

- Our family liaison said to us,

and I remember the
words as clear as day,

"You're not gonna learn
anything new here today.

This is just basically

going over what we already know

and they've gotta define
whether it was suicide or not."

And I'm sad to say that
I learned a lot in there.

[sad music]

- What stood out
to me at the time

was a police officer
getting up on the stand

and explaining that no DNA
testing had taken place.

Daniel Whitworth, for example,
was found with a suicide note

inside a plastic wallet,

which looks suspicious
in the first place.

Who's going to the trouble

to place that inside
a plastic wallet?

But the note wasn't tested.

- I thought the
plastic it was in

was what the police put it in.

It was found in
that plastic sleeve.

So all this argument of,

oh, you can tell
he was going dizzy,

you know, it said,
"I'm going dizzy now",

he's writing slips off the page.

Well, his writing couldn't
have slipped off the page.

Where did he suddenly
find the dexterity

to put it into a plastic sleeve?

- He had to admit that they
hadn't done any forensic tests

because the coroner was
asking these questions

to say, well,
didn't you do this?

Didn't you do that?

- Yeah, she was very curious.
- How was your forensics?

And he said, "Well,
we didn't do that.

We didn't do this."

There was quite a
little list of things

that he weren't
interested in doing

and the coroner
wasn't happy with it.

- Yeah, she was like, you
know, "Well why didn't you?

Why haven't you done
a forensic on this?

Why haven't you done it?"

And he was adamant,

it's because we'd said that
the handwriting was Daniel's.

That was what he was going with.

He said, "Yeah, they did verify.

The family has verified."

[intense music]

- It just seemed weird

that two bodies
could turn up dead

within weeks of each other
in the same graveyard

and no tests were taking place
and that could be admitted

that there were no
visible repercussions.

Do you know what I mean?

It's just, it's quite
odd to witness that.

- Then the coroner
said, "I can't determine

whether this was suicide or not,

so I'm gonna leave it open."

- I went in expecting a
straightforward inquest

and I was just astounded
because I came out confused.

- I just wanted them
to reinvestigate,

go into that case further

because I thought an open
verdict meant we could,

and apparently no.

The case is closed, it's
just an open verdict

because the coroner
can't decide for sure

that Daniel took his own life.

And that's what that meant.

- I knew when I wrote
it, even as you know,

a young journalist, I was like,
this doesn't hang together.

It doesn't make sense.

I had one editor
coming up to me saying,

"This doesn't make sense."

And I was like,
"This is literally

what happened at the inquest."

[sad music]

It was the best we
could do essentially

with the information
we were given.

I feel pretty
embarrassed about that

and pretty devastated
to be honest

that we essentially repeated
a serial killer's lies

without realising it.

[sad music]

[sombre music]

- I knew his photo
and I knew it was him

and I couldn't remember his name

'cause it was years later

and he told me his
name was Lance,

and I knew that weren't
true, but this is Grindr.

I wanted one thing,
I wanted to have sex.

It didn't really matter
what his name was.

He asked me directly
if I liked Chemsex

and I categorically said, "No."

And he was like, "That's
fine, we won't do that."

So I agreed to meet him.

We were having sex, he
couldn't get an erection

and it kind of was like a
flashback to the first time.

I was like, I've put myself
in this same situation

I put myself in all those
years ago where I've come round

and I'm not enjoying myself.

He then went to go to the
toilet and he came back

and he injected the
liquid into my anus.

[intense music]

I shot up in pain
and it was painful

and I asked him what he'd done

and he told me he'd put lube
in so that it was easier

for him to penetrate.

I'd never done that before.

So I was a bit like,
"No, I don't want that."

And he was like, "Okay,
okay, but it's in now.

So let's just have sex."

And we did, we
continued to have sex.

He obviously got bored
within five minutes

and he went to the toilet again.

And then he came back
and he did it again.

And I jumped up and I
was like, "What the fuck?

What have you just done?

I've just told you no."

And he was like, "Sorry, sorry.

It's just that I'm finding
it hard to get in."

And I was like, "I
don't give a fuck."

But for some reason,
I agreed to carry on.

I think at the time,
I was thinking,

let's get this over and
done with so I can go home.

[intense music]

I started to get
dizzy and I felt drunk

and that was the
moment that I was like,

hang on, this ain't right.

He's done something.

He's trying to drug me.

- [Reader] "If I intended
to take drugs with a guy,

I always discussed it first.

No guy came to mine without
knowing what was planned."

- He then gets up again and
goes to the bathroom again.

And at this point I was
like, absolutely not.

This is the moment
now I'm going to do

what my parents taught me

and take myself out of
a dangerous situation.

So I got dressed
and he came back

and he was like, "Oh,
where you going?"

And this time I could even
see the syringe in his hand

and I'm like, "I'm going home."

But he gave me a glass
of water before I left,

which I sipped
because I felt drunk.

Looking back, maybe
not the right decision,

but I did sip it
and I asked him,

"Have you given me drugs?"

And he said, "No."

I lied and said, "I am
allergic to a lot of drugs.

So you need to
tell me if you have

because it could
affect well my life."

And he still said, "No."

- [Reader] "I never
pressured them to try it,

nor did I drug any guy's drink.

They left happy and healthy.

- But he seemed a bit panicked

and he walked me back
to Barking Station

to make sure I got on a bus.

And I think he was scared
that I was going to pass out.

[siren wails]

- A body turned up in a
dark corner of the green

that is next to St.
Margaret's Church in Barking.

The curious thing is
that it is yards away.

It's on the other
side of the wall too,

the spot on which Daniel
Whitworth was found dead

and before him, Gabriel Kovari.

- Identification
found on the body

showed that this
was Jack Taylor.

He's only 25 years old
and he was from Dagenham.

[calm intense music]

- Jack was like many young men,

coming to terms with better
understanding his sexuality.

And he was, I suppose
you could say curious

about a side of his personality
that may be attracted to men

and perhaps considering
figuring that out for himself.

- My name's Neil Hudgell.

I am the family solicitor for
the victims of Stephen Port.

Jack's found propped up
against the cemetery wall,

police attend and
in similar way,

nothing untoward about this,

even though by this
time there's at least

a small number of police
officers who've had contact

in relation to each
of the investigations.

So it's alarming that
there's still perceived view

of nothing to see here.

- Very, very quickly again,

a decision is made that this
is a non-suspicious death

and in the actual
report here, they says,

and this is from the
detective sergeant,

"My suspicions are an overdose

or a severe reaction to
some form of medication

mixed with controlled drugs."

And it actually says here,

"I make this assessment
based on the syringe,

white powder and clear liquid."

So just the fact that those
are in somebody's pockets

shouldn't really determine
the cause of death

or how somebody died

and whether or not it's
suspicious or non-suspicious,

no further investigation
appears to have been done.

- Jack worked at a warehouse

storing expensive
champagne bottles.

The staff at the warehouse were
regularly given drugs tests.

So he wouldn't have
risked his livelihood.

And he was also had
an eye on hoping

to join the police force.

So if he'd have got a
conviction for drugs,

that would've been
the end of it.

So his family knew full well

he would've never have
taken drugs willingly.

- Jen and Donna
Taylor, his sisters,

were completely baffled as
well as being devastated.

And they say, "None
of this makes sense.

We think this might
be suspicious."

The police don't
think it's suspicious.

[sad music]

- The Metropolitan Police came
into contact with two forces

of nature in Donna
and Jenny Taylor,

who were not accepting anything.

Just were not accepting it.

So the sister spent
hours and hours and hours

pouring over the detail,

found out about
the other deaths,

established similarities
between them,

the use of Chemsex,
where they were found,

their personal history

and badgered the police,
badgered them and badged them,

and one of the lines
of inquiry was,

"Have you got any CCTV?"

- The CCTV, which had been
taken from just outside

Barking Railway Station was
a last known sighting of Jack

before he was found dead.

And you see him,
such a slight figure

walking next to this
very, very tall man,

- The police, they don't seem
concerned with who the man is.

Jen and Donna
obviously are asking,

"Do you not think that
man needs identifying?

He might at the very least
be able to help with this."

- Jack Taylor's death
was considered by police

to be non-suspicious

because it had been closed
down as a non-suspicious death,

as an overdose.

There was no need to
investigate any further,

there was no need to
share those images

and there was no need to
put in any extra resources.

- Eventually the sisters,

and I don't know how
they're doing this

while they're in
the throes of grief,

but they somehow
wear the police down

and convince them
to go to the effort

of releasing the CCTV footage.

And just as an aside,
it's not an effort.

They do it all the time.

- I saw the CCTV pictures on
a Facebook post being like,

"Do you know this guy last
seen with Jack Taylor?".

It was definitely him.

I mean, even the side photo,
the blonde, I just knew.

And I did ring
anonymously and said,

"This is the phone
number I've got,

this is the name I've got,
but I know it's fake".

- Within hours, he's identified
by another police officer.

So he recognised him, he
says, "That's Stephen Port".

[intense music]

- Port's brought in and then
the dots start to be joined up

because of course
Port is the one

that relatively recently
come out of prison

for a term that he's
done following the
finding of Anthony.

And hey presto, you know,

we've got something
on our hands here

that we didn't think we had

and we better get the experts

and the murder investigation
team to do a proper job.

- [Detective] This
is Jack Taylor.

Do you recognise that male?

- No.

I Don't recognise his face.

- [Detective] So you
don't recognise his face?

- [Stephen] I do not, no, no.

- [Detective] Stephen, did
you have any involvement

in his death?

- I did not, no, no.

- [Detective] Did
you kill Jack Taylor?

- I did not, no.

- From there, everything started

to sort of start
being joined up,

the link with
Anthony, first of all,

and then finally the link with
Gabriel and Daniel as well.

- [Detective] And Stephen,
did you write this letter?

Here, CRT11?

- [Stephen] No, I did not.

- [Detective] The photos
of it as found with Daniel.

[eerie music]

- No.

Definitely not.

- [Detective] Are you telling
us the truth, Stephen?

- I'm telling you
the truth, yes.

- About the letter?
- Yes.

[sad music]

- We had a whole year

of trying to come to
terms with suicide.

Adam was at work, I got a
phone call from Slaymaker

and his first words were,
"Don't build your hopes up,

but we think we found
this third person,

this person that
Daniel was with.

And we think Daniel was murdered

just matter of factly."

And I was like, "Oh, crikey."

- A man has appeared in
court accused of drugging

and killing four men in a
string of attacks in East London

over the last 14 months.

Stephen Port has been charged

with murdering
the four young men

who he met through
gay dating websites.

[sad music]

- Felt like I'd been shot,

straight pain to me chest
and I just burst into tears.

It was awful, it was awful
being after all that time,

proved right and the fact
of if they'd listened to me

in the first place,

them other three lads
wouldn't have died.

- I think she's the most
determined person I've ever met.

It makes me emotional to think.

[sad music]

She did everything.

Couldn't have done anymore.

Three men are dead who
didn't need to be dead.

It's probably as bad
as it could ever get.

- [Detective] 'Cause
three of the four people

that have been found
dead were found

slumped up against the
wall here of the abbey.

[eerie music]

Pardon?

- Yeah, I didn't know that.

- [Detective] You
didn't know that?

So that's news to you, is it?

- Yeah.

[eerie music]

Did you put them there?

- No, gosh no.

- [Detective] So obviously
Anthony was found slumped

outside your address with

a large amount of
GHB in his system.

The other three men
we've been discussing

were all found over by the
wall area of the abbey.

You can see on the map.

Again, all of them were
slumped against the wall

with a large amount
of GHB in their body.

Can you account for that at all?

- No, I can't.

[eerie music]

- I was looking at the dates

and I realised it was one
day between me meeting him

and Jack meeting him.

And I felt a lot of guilt

and I still feel a lot of guilt

because I believe in my own head

that had I had the common
sense then to actually report,

maybe Jack wouldn't have died.

I could have done
more and I didn't

because gay people
don't trust the police

to take them seriously

and that's what
it comes down to.

But also, how do you
tell a police officer

that a guy that you
met on a hookup app

that you went to have
consensual sex with

sexually assaulted you?

Even on paper, that
sounds ridiculous.

I think I would've been
laughed out of the room.

- Port's laptop was
forensically examined

and that forensic
examination revealed

for the first time the
extent of Stephen Port's

obsession with young gay men,

his obsession with
drug-rape videos online,

it looked like he was
literally on his computer

all the time, all day, all
night when he wasn't working

and this was his life.

- [Detective] So did
you have any involvement

in the death of the male
that we just spoke about

a short while ago,
it was Gabriel Kovari

or Gabriel Klein?

- No, I did not, no.

- I immediately knew
he was the killer,

he was guilty and my
mind went into overload

because I had these
messages on my phone

that were incriminating

because they were
basically Stephen

doing a web of
lies about Gabriel

- [Detective] Stephen,
this is serious.

- Yeah, I know.
- Okay.

It's really important that you
tell us the absolute truth.

[eerie music]

- Everything I've told
you so far is true.

[intense music]

- Once the case had been
opened by the prosecutor,

the penny started to drop

that this wasn't an ordinary
kind of murder trial,

this was something else,

the evidence was gonna
be quite harrowing.

It is actually the worst
I've ever seen in court.

- Never heard his voice and I
don't want to hear his voice.

I wasn't in court when
he was giving evidence.

I just can't bear
to hear his voice.

- He was very, like
it was nothing.

Laughy, jokey.

He was even laughing and
joking with the police

he was strapped to.

I didn't see any
regret in his face.

- The prosecution
painted a picture

of a man who was obsessed

with drug-rape sex

and he wasn't interested
in who they were,

it was all about the sex.

And if they happened
to die, so be it.

He would deal with that.

- [Reader] I've been taking
GHB hundreds of times

with the last three
of my boyfriends

and many other random guys,

and no one ever died before."

[intense music]

- My role really was
to explain to the jury

more about the nature of GHB,

how it could be used,
how it could be taken,

what the effects are,

and then how it could
contribute to death.

Each person has
their own dose level

that they would be
comfortable with.

So essentially a dose that
causes euphoria in one person

could actually be
sedating in another person

and potentially even fatal.

[eerie music]

- When we talk about
people being drugged,

it doesn't sound
like a violent crime,

but one of the key
pieces of evidence

which really showed in
incredibly graphic detail

what Stephen Port was doing

after he had drugged
these young men

was a piece of video
that he'd taken himself,

showing him having sex

with a man who was
completely comatose.

[sad music]

When you see what he
was doing, you realise,

no, this was an
extremely violent crime.

[sad music]

Looking at the
reaction of the jurors,

I could see a lot of them
looked very, very upset.

And I think at least one
or two of them were crying

as they were watching it.

But it was important
for them to understand

this is what he was into,

not just on that occasion, but
over and over and over again.

- A number of surviving
victims went to court

and very bravely testified
against Stephen Port.

- Going to court was probably

the most traumatic
of everything.

You had to relive
every moment of it

and it never went
away the entire time.

I think I cried a lot.

- The survivors described

Port administered the
GHB drugs in two ways,

first way was giving
the victim a drink,

and the second
way was pretending

that he was
administering lubricant.

These people, they weren't
willing participants.

They didn't go along
with being drugged.

They were deliberately drugged

without even knowing
what was happening.

[intense music]

- My biggest what if
was what if I stayed?

What if he injected
me one last time?

You know, I felt dizzy at
that point, I felt drunk,

I can't even comprehend
what the last shot

would've actually done.

I probably would've
gone unconscious.

- You could have one dose
that could cause euphoria.

The second dose could
actually make you fall asleep.

Third dose could even be fatal.

- I can't say that I would've
survived a final shot or not.

I don't know.

[sad music]

- I can only imagine what
they put themselves through

to be there.

We've never had the opportunity
really to thank them,

however many there
were, whoever they were,

we can't thank you enough.

[sad music]

- Having the living victims
saying, this is his MO,

this is how he acted with me,

this is what he was into,

it enables the
jurors to then go,

well, what do we
think he was doing

in the hours leading
up to the deaths

of Anthony, Gabriel,
Daniel, and Jack?

- [Reader] "I value all life.

I am not a killer.

It's just a tragic accident."

- A serial killer who
used gay dating websites

to find his victims
has been found guilty

of murdering four men.

Chef Stephen Port gave lethal
doses of a date rape drug

to his victims, to
endulge his fetish for sex

with unconscious men.

- We have just come out of court

and finally we have got
justice for our Jack

and now we can let our
jack rest rest in peace.

[sad music]

- There were seven
survivors of Port as well

who all testified against him

and Port was convicted of crimes

against all of these
seven individuals.

And it's really important

that we remember
their stories too.

- I'm relieved that our case
was taken into consideration

because while the
murders were terrible,

there were still other
victims that came forward

and that's just the
ones that came forward.

I can't even imagine
how many more didn't.

- Thank you.

- A mixture of
emotions here today,

joy and celebration that
justice has finally been done,

but also deep pain and anguish

that it took the
Metropolitan police so long

to catch this serial killer.

[sad music]

- Strangely,

it is still not enough.

You're glad it's
come back guilty,

but it wasn't enough.

- Stephen Port was
convicted of terrible crimes

and today he was
handed a jail sentence

befitting the nature
of what he did.

The judge told
him he would spend

the rest of his life in jail.

[intense music]

- The family learned
things at trial

that they didn't know about.

Some of the pieces of the
jigsaw were falling into place

around the police ineptitude

and around police attitude.

And so they couldn't start
that grieving process

because there were still so
many unanswered questions.

- The Barking and Dagenham
police refer themselves

to the IPCC

and they do this
for an investigation

to be conducted
into their conduct.

But ultimately that
investigation finds
that apparently

amongst all of the
police officers involved,

there was no misconduct or
gross misconduct to answer to.

A lot more information
came out in the trial,

which ultimately led
to a huge inquest.

[sad music]

- We know how these
four young men died,

we know who killed them.

What these inquests
will also examine

is whether there were
missed opportunities

during the police investigation

to stop Stephen Port

and whether some of those deaths
could have been prevented.

- The inquest was
the first opportunity

to listen to what the
police officers had to say.

They were compelled
to give evidence.

So there were lots of stuff

that the families found
very difficult to digest.

- We heard the victims
being described

as homeless, drug users,

sex workers,

you know, the kinds
of descriptions

that the police had
used at the time

to form their opinions
of the victims,

I think was quite telling.

- Each of the families
in their own way

had to present evidence
to the inquest.

And in some respect, it was
quite cathartic for them

because they were able to
describe their loved ones

in a way that properly
depicted them.

So nothing like the stereotypes
that had been presented

as part of the
original narrative.

- There were a lot of
mistakes that emerged

during the course
of the inquest.

You know, one of the
worst initial mistakes

was that the police
did not even find

their own intelligence
on Stephen Port.

- When Anthony
Walgate was murdered,

Stephen Port was already
a sexual assault suspect.

- They should have done
a basic police check

to find out what
was known about him.

And I'm aware that there
was an allegation made

in 2012 and also in 2014

that involved Stephen Port
drugging and raping young men.

Now that isn't shown on
this paperwork anywhere.

- It was layer upon layer
upon layer of incompetence

based on an initial narrative

that all the focus from
day one was on validating.

- The other major, major
mistake that was made

right from the word go,

they seized Stephen
Port's laptop computer,

but it wasn't examined.

And that laptop computer
contained everything they needed

to know about Stephen Port.

- So there's a catalogue
of reasons here

as to why at the time that
Gabrielle was found dead,

that Port shouldn't
have been on the street.

- Today, an inquest
jury has determined

that Anthony Walgate's,
Gabriel Kovari,

Daniel Whitworth, and Jack
Taylor were unlawfully killed.

They have also found
that the deaths

of three of those young men,

Gabrielle, Daniel, and Jack,

could probably
have been prevented

had the initial police responses

and investigations been better.

It is a devastating finding.

- The inadequate investigation
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 failings

in modern history.

[sad music]

- I've said all along
and I will still,

I will always say it,
it was homophobia.

If that had had been a
young girl who was 23

dumped outside near the bins,

there would've been a
lot more investigated.

[sad music]

- Looking at Stephen now,

he is perhaps more intelligent
than I gave him credit for.

They say the quiet one's
are the worst, don't they?

And what was going on, you know,

in those kind of monosyllabic
answers he would give me

while I was chatting about
everything and anything to him,

if it was deception on that
scale it was very adept

because to keep that
pretence up for 10 years,

that's remarkable.

- I hate that photo.

That photo haunts me

because that is not
the person I met.

He was very good
at deceiving people

'cause that's not
the person I saw

and that's not the
person I had sex with.

It was all kind of a facade.

- I have a huge
amount of respect

for the survivors
of Stephen Port.

I would also encourage
other people to come forward

so that this can be prevented
from happening again.

Because we cannot have suspects,
perpetrators, predators,

hiding in plain sight
because people who are gay

or who are different are not
encouraged to come forward.

- Persistence is what
got this case solved.

The families all in their
own way contributed to that.

They all shouted out
that this is foul play.

- If it weren't
for the families,

but especially
for Jen and Donna,

I suspect that we
might still not know

what happened in Barking.

You know, it doesn't
bear thinking about

how many more men
would've been raped

and drugged and
murdered in East London

- At the moment, there is
a new IOPC investigation.

The family's hopes
are for some answers

and some accountability.

Their concern is to make
sure that other families

don't suffer some of the
outrage and injustices

that they did.

- We believe that a thorough,

yet proportionate new
investigation is appropriate.

- The facts are there.

It is plain to see.

There's a great catalogue of
the list of things they've done

badly that they
should answer for.

They've gotta be answerable for
what they've done, you know?

- Yeah because Daniel
would still be here.

- Yeah.

- It's okay to have hookups.

Just make sure you are
safe when you are doing it.

It's always okay to say no

and it's always okay
to change your mind,

but you don't have to
have sex with someone

just because you said
you would two hours ago.

You're allowed to leave and
you are allowed to panic.

You are absolutely
allowed to panic.

- You've really got
to be 100% selfish

and if it means you
make a twat of yourself

or you look stupid,

well better that than your
parents having to bury you.

That's the way to
look at this now.

[sad music]

- Oh, you know, I've got
fantastic memories of him.

Yeah, and that's all I remember.

I don't remember
Daniel as some victim.

We had a whole lifetime
together, me and him.

You know, it was a
lifetime and a great one.

I have got fantastic
memories of him, yeah.

[sad music]

- Anthony always used to say,

"You're wait Sezza,

One day I'll be famous,

everybody will be
talking about me."

Which they are, but obviously
for the wrong reasons.

But he always said
he'd be famous.

- Over the many years that
I've been covering this case,

one of the things
that, you know,

I really think came across,

it wasn't really how they died

that brought them
together as a group.

The thing that they
actually had in common

was that they were young men

really on the verge
of making it in life.

They had aspirations, they
had dreams, they had talents

and in their own different ways,

they were really, you know,
extraordinary human beings.

[sad music]

[wind howls]

[sad music]

[sad music continues]