Serial killer Port was no genius... police made it easier for him
Easy Kills investigates the murders of grindr Killer stephen port. here, author Sebastian Murphy-bates Explains how he got the inside story on a tragic case
RECENT TV drama Four Lives starring Stephen Merchant, told the true-life tale of serial killer Stephen Port.
The 46-year-old was jailed in November 2016 after luring four young, gay men through dating apps like Grindr so he could fatally drug and rape them. He is currently serving a whole-life sentence for his chilling crimes – which the police failed to investigate adequately, allowing him to strike again and again.
New book Easy Kills, tracks Port’s life and crimes and questions the role of Barking and Dagenham Metropolitan Police, who were investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct as a result.
Here author Sebastian Murphybates writes about the unique experience of writing to the serial killer while he was in prison.
MAKING CONTACT
When serial killer Stephen Port was finally arrested, those following the case had many questions.
This 40-year-old had evaded police for 15 months while murdering Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth and Jack Taylor – dumping their corpses in public spaces in Barking, East London. How could this be so?
Could it be that Port was so adept at covering his tracks that he fell into the category of criminal genius?
After Port’s conviction for the four murders – along with a slew of sex offences – at the Old Bailey, I wrote to him at HMP Frankland, Durham, to find out what sort of a man he was, while researching for my book Easy Kills.
Putting it politely, my impression throughout our correspondence was not one of genius.
His misspelt efforts were full of childish concerns, juxtaposed with boasts about an intellect I’m sure was pure invention.
To try and get him onside, I’d posed as a young, gay man, who was insecure and much younger.
This character was named Luke (as in Skywalker – Port loves Star Wars) Banes (Google tells me this is someone or other in Transformers, a rabid obsession of Port’s).
I even sent a picture, hoping he’d be drawn further in and it worked. He was happy to have the picture in his cell.
His witless notes hadn’t come as a shock. I’d known from his denial of every single one of the 29 charges he’d faced that it wasn’t his brain that had kept him free for so long. So what had? Barking and Dagenham Metropolitan Police Service.
MISSED CHANCES
Port should have been stopped in June 2014, when he drugged fashion student Anthony to death after hiring him as an escort.
But police didn’t check his electronic devices, where a torrid search history of rape porn would have elucidated his intention for luring
the young man to Barking.
It gets worse. Even without checking the devices, the police should still have viewed him with suspicion. He had, after all, been the one to pose as a bystander and call 999 about Anthony’s body.
He’d been found to have hired him as an escort, proving his call was a lie. He then admitted to moving the body to the street. Did he become a murder suspect? No, he was charged (and later convicted) for perverting the course of justice.
While awaiting his court date, he murdered Gabriel and Daniel, within weeks of one another, dumping their bodies in the same graveyard down the road from his flat. Daniel’s body in particular was strewn with potential clues – the blanket atop which he had been placed and a note purporting to attest to his suicide. Police didn’t bother to test the blanket, which would later be found to have Port’s semen on it.
Nor did they probe the note, which was suspiciously preserved in a plastic wallet (somebody really wanted to convince them this was a suicide) and mentioned “the
guy I was with last night” (not suspicious at all).
After serving around half of his sentence, Stephen was free. Had he served his full sentence, Jack Taylor would still be alive. Still, surely the fourth body to turn up within 400 yards of Port’s flat would raise the alarm. Especially given it was on the same grounds as the previous two. Then again, why would it? None of the others did. The sole reason that Port was arrested in October 2015 was because Jack’s brave sisters – Donna and Jen – convinced an unwilling police force to release CCTV footage of Jack’s final walk through Barking town centre, leading to Port’s identification. My book is called Easy Kills because the police made it far easier than it should have been for an unresourceful idiot to murder.
Surely the fourth body to turn up within 400 yards of Port’s flat would raise the alarm...