‘Grindr killer’ Stephen Port ‘was obsessed with drug rape pornography’

Serial killer Stephen Port obsessively watched drug rape pornography, an inquest into the deaths of his four victims has heard

(PA)

Serial killer Stephen Port was obsessed with watching drug rape pornography and would message men incessantly on hook-up sites for hours every day before he was jailed, an inquest has heard.

The 46-year-old, who was handed a whole-life sentence in 2016, murdered four men with overdoses of the drug GHB and sexually assaulted several others between June 2014 and September the following year.

The long-awaited inquests into his victims’ deaths at Barking Town Hall in east London are intended to establish whether police investigations into their murders were adequate and whether lives could have been saved.

Port murdered Jack Taylor, 21, Anthony Walgate, 23, Gabriel Kovari, 22, and Daniel Whitworth, 21, before dumping their bodies near his flat.

The brother of Mr Kovari told the inquest that Gabriel was an “exceptional and ambitious young man” whom he believes “could still be with us today” if police had acted more competently during their investigations.

Giving evidence on Wednesday, Detective Inspector Mark Richards told the inquest that when Port’s laptop was seized officers found hundreds of thousands of lines of messages about sex, pornography and drug taking.

He told the jury: “It was absolutely incessant. It was all day, every day. There were hundreds of thousands of lines of messages because he was obsessed.”

Port would watch “a considerable and extensive amount” of drug rape pornography, the officer continued, viewing it for hours at a time.

“He had a real obsession with drug rape pornography,” he added.

Port’s laptop also showed that he would pause messaging or watching the footage for around half-an-hour while he went to meet men at Barking station and bring them back to his flat, before continuing viewing the material while they were in his home.

The purpose of the inquests, which could last up to 10 weeks, is not to attribute criminal or civil liability, Coroner Sarah Munro QC told the jury when proceedings began, but to consider whether “mistakes were made” that delayed Port being brought to justice.

Detectives sifted through details of nearly 60 other deaths to make sure Port had not claimed any more lives, and concluded no accomplice was involved.

Their theory was that Port had wrapped his victims’ bodies in bed sheets and carried them to the sites where they were found.

The inquests were adjourned until Thursday.