Stephen Port

[5][9] Port met his victims via online gay and bisexual social networks and dating or hookup apps,[3] and constructed biographies in which he made false claims about his background, including one in which he pretended to have graduated from Oxford University and served in the Royal Navy.[11] Port contacted his first murder victim, 23-year-old Anthony Walgate, a fashion student who occasionally worked as an escort, on 17 June 2014 pretending to be a client.[15][3] Port had planted a fake suicide note alongside the body of Whitworth that suggested he was responsible for the death of Kovari, the previous victim, and that he had killed himself out of guilt.[3][16] Port used a number of Internet hook-up sites and apps as a means of initially contacting his victims, including Sleepyboy, Grindr, Hornet, Fitlads, Badoo, Gaydar, Flirt, DaddyHunt, PlanetRomeo, Manhunt, Slaveboys and CouchSurfing.Commenting on the case, Malcolm McHaffie, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS London, said:Over a period of three years the defendant committed a series of murders and serious sexual offences against young men.[24][25][26] The bodies of the four men were found in the vicinity of Port's flat, in a period of just over a year, from June 2014: Walgate (the first) outside his front door and the other three in or near a nearby graveyard.[3][27] The first three victims were initially thought not to have died in suspicious circumstances[3] and, despite the PinkNews website and the force's LGBT independent advisory group correctly believing there was a serial murderer at large, the police had told them the crimes were not linked.[3] Whitworth's step-mother says that when police informed her of his death, they led her to believe he had overdosed on drugs, despite no investigation having taken place, and discounted the bruising under his arms which a coroner later stated meant that third-party involvement could not be ruled out.They took the supposed suicide note left with his body at face value, sending a small fragment to her and Whitworth's father, asking them to verify whether it was his handwriting.Similarly, Taylor's sister reported the police simply telling the family "Jack's dead" and accepting the syringe in his pocket, white powder in his wallet and needle marks on his arm as indicating that he had sat down by himself and overdosed on drugs, although her brother was very anti-drugs.[28][29] [30] The Metropolitan Police also reported in 2016 that they were re-examining 58 unexplained deaths involving date-rape drugs, although a spokeswoman said there was nothing to suggest that Port was linked to any of them.[33] In 2019, Gerald Matovu, who was known to have supplied Port with the GHB used in the killings, was arrested and later convicted of the murder of actor and businessman Eric Michels.[5] In July 2020, it was announced that a fresh inquiry was set to take place in January 2021, to examine all four deaths and probe into any police failings.[40] In January 2022, the BBC aired the drama thriller Four Lives, based on the investigation led by the families of Port's murder victims.The drama, written by Neil McKay and originally titled The Barking Murders, stars Stephen Merchant as Port, with Sheridan Smith and Jaime Winstone in supporting roles.