JAIME ’ S BOND
TV star’s link to sister of Grindr killer’s victim
THE sister of serial killer Stephen Port’s last victim has formed a close bond with Jaime Winstone after the star agreed to play her in a TV drama.
Jaime, 34, portrays Donna Taylor in Four Lives, starting tomorrow on BBC1.
The series tells how Donna and sister Jenny, 33, mounted their own investigation and fought for justice for their brother Jack after police repeatedly failed to act.
Jack, 25, was the fourth victim of monster Port, known as the Grindr killer after meeting his victims on the gay dating app and drugging and killing them.
Donna, 43, told the Sunday People: “I met up with Jaime on a few occasions with my sister Jen and the actress Stephanie Hyam who plays her.
“That first meeting was quite emotional. Once we got to telling them about what we’d been through all four of us were in tears.
“The only thing I told her I wanted was for it to be truthful.”
Serial killer Port, 46, now serving a whole-life jail sentence, gave Donna’s brother and three other men fatal doses of the date rape drug GHB before dumping their bodies near his flat in Barking, East London, in 2014-15.
Donna, a carer, said: “The writers approached us three years ago and told us they wanted to make a drama about how the families had been let down.
“We went to Manchester to see them film a scene. Jaime was acting out me and my family outside the Old Bailey.
“As soon as she saw us, she cut the scene and came over and gave me and my sister and mum a cuddle and a kiss.
“There will never ever be closure for me and my sister, but I got some comfort watching the show because it helps Jack’s memory to live on and tells people his story. It’s really powerful.”
Liverpool actor Paddy Rowan, 24, plays Jack while Stephen Merchant, 47, has the role of Port and Sheridan Smith, 40,
portrays the mum of Port’s first victim, Anthony Walgate, 23.
An inquest last month concluded that failings in the Met’s investigation probably contributed to three of the four deaths. The force launched a murder probe only after Donna and Jenny uncovered the pattern of deaths.
Donna said: “If we hadn’t done that I don’t think police would have acted and there would have been more deaths.
“After Jack there was an attack on a man who luckily survived, which shows Port was not going to stop.” Last month Donna and her family saw Met Police commissioner Cressida Dick who apologised and promised to investigate. MPS want a probe into alleged homophobia in the Met.
Donna added: “We’re hoping the drama will put more pressure on authorities so people are held accountable.”