True Crime With Caledonian Kitty

When we think of infamous serial killers, a lot of the time the usual names come to the front of our minds, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer , Fred And Rose West, and John Wayne Gacy amongst others. I've written about so many serial murderers over the years and the stories of the past still come back to haunt us, new books are written, movies are made and documentaries pop up on Netflix which bring new found attention to these shocking cases from history that we should never forget. And then there's the shocking stories that don't get as much attention but are equally just as terrifying, stories such as the case of English serial killer Stephen Port. 

What Ted, Jeffrey, Fred, Rose and John had in common was their ability to fool people, they had a level of charisma that enabled them to gain people's trust and display an appearance of 'normality'. With Stephen Port all you had to do was look at him to see that there was something just not right with this man. I know they say you should never judge a book by it's cover but Stephen had a look of evil and creepiness that is hard to describe and I cannot be blamed for my judgment in this case, as he turned out to be even worse that any of us could've imagined.

His disturbing crimes happened not that long ago and as well as the case being horrific, the attitude of the police is again called into question in response to how they failed to investigate this case, how they ignored vital information and the disrespect to the victims and their families. We like to think that in more recent times that things have changed for the better and that's not always the case. Since this case became more wider known in the public arena, the Met police have claimed that they have trained their officers in how to deal with future cases as well as how to deal with potential and crucial information in a more respectful and timely matter....but that remains to be seen. 

So let's get into the case...

Stephen Port was born in Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England on the 22nd of February 1975. He was known to be a loner at school and wasn't quite sure as he got older what type of profession he wanted to go into. At first he enrolled in an art course but decided that he wanted to be a chef. Eventually he managed to get a job as a chef at a bus depot. In his private life, Stephen was still very much a loner and would take drugs as well as alcohol from time to time. He was homosexual and would have various sexual encounters with men who he preferred to be young (in his words 'under the age of 30' and 'Twinks' which is slang for 'young boys who are attractive and of slim build'). The boys would usually be in their 20s and he would often pay them for their time, hiring young escorts was nothing new to him. 

As well as being a man in his 40s who had a penchant for younger men, his taste for pornography was quite disturbing, echoing Jeffrey Dahmer, he enjoyed the idea of young men being drugged and unconscious as he did what he wanted with their bodies. This quickly switched from being his favourite type of 'porn' to watch, to being something that he desired to try for real. Stephen signed up to what seemed like every online gay dating site going. For someone who was a loner and not that great a conversationalist he sure had a lot of confidence when it came to meeting strangers off of the internet for sexual encounters and had no issues using his own photographs on his profiles despite looking like an odd character. His favourite sites to use were 'Fitlads', 'Sleepyboy', 'Bender' and the more known 'Grindr' (hence why he is often nicknamed 'The Grindr' Killer) 

As I always have said in previous posts relating to serial killers, there's often the victims we know about and then there's always the possibility that there are more out there who have yet to be identified. There are files upon files stacked up in boxes on shelves of every police Department you can think of that has unsolved cases going back decades, how many of them are victims of serial killers that have not yet been realised? It's a very chilling thought. 

With Stephen Port's crimes being brought to light in his 40's (his first murder was reported to have been committed when he was 39) and considering his sexual drive for controlling younger men, it's hard to believe that all of this just started as soon as he reached this part of his life. His first known victim was 23 year old student, Anthony Walgate who he had connected with via one of the dating sites. Anthony had told friends beforehand that he was going to meet Stephen in Barking, East London and gave a few details of where he was going as he told them in a joking manner ''In case I get killed''. Sadly this joke was to become a horrible reality because the young man had been found collapsed on Cooke Street where Stephen had lived after a anonymous phone call to authorities which Stephen had placed himself. When everyone arrived the young man was deceased. The investigation into Anthony's death was a mess, an autopsy was deemed inconclusive although they did determine that drugs had been a major factor. As for the strange bruises on his body, they couldn't decide if they had been the result of physical abuse or as a result of 'Hypostasis' which is when the blood stops pumping and pools in lower areas of the body. 

The police managed to trace the anonymous call back to Stephen Port and despite him having a reputation for physical abuse as well as drugging and sexually assaulting men in the past (he was never charged and did not have a criminal record at this point), the police charged him with perverting the course of justice and Stephen served a very short stint in jail. 

His second known victim was 22 year old student, Gabriel Kovari whom he also met through an online dating site. Gabriel was originally from Slovakia and had been renting a spare room from a man named John who he became very good friends with (John would later become instrumental in the eventual bringing of Stephen Port to justice). Despite enjoying living with John, Stephen had managed to persuade Gabriel (possibly with the offer of not having to pay any rent one wonders?) to move in with him. Gabriel announced out of the blue that he was moving out but promised to stay in contact with John. John was shocked and saddened to see Gabriel go and didn't want to ask too many questions about where he was going, all he knew was that Gabriel seemed to be happy about this situation. 

Gabriel had been gone for barely a week when John noticed that he'd not been returning his calls or text messages, he hadn't been online either. The sad and shocking news was soon realised when the police arrived at John's door to inform him that Gabriel had been found dead. He was discovered slumped in a graveyard by a woman out walking her dog. All signs pointed to an overdose as the police found a bottle which they had also found on Anthony Walgate's body previously. The graveyard was not that far away from Stephen's home and after further investigation it was declared that Gabriel also died from what appeared to be a drug overdose. Both Anthony and Gabriel had dangerously high levels of the date-rape drug GHB in their systems at time of death. 

John didn't feel comfortable with how the police were responding to the case and felt that something was not quite right. He began doing his own research online and discovered some very shocking details. He was able to discover connections and also spoke to Gabriel's former boyfriend who told him that he'd been informed about a gang of older men who would target young homosexual men, give them a cocktail of drugs and sexually assault them at parties.

John went to the police will all of this information and was turned away as far as they were concerned, this was not a suspicious death. 

On the 20th of September 2014, the very same lady who had previously found Gabriel, had found another deceased young man slumped up against the wall in the same graveyard. Daniel Whitworth was a chef and just 21 when he arranged to meet Stephen Port online on a dating site. Daniel was already in a long-term relationship at this time. Daniel was found in the exact same position as Gabriel but this time a suicide letter was found. In this suicide note which was described by his family and friends as being 'cold' and nothing like him at all, Daniel was supposed to have said that he had been responsible for Gabriel's death and not to blame the man he had slept with the night before. Suddenly those closest to the boys became interested in who this man was and also began their independent investigating. 

The last known murder was said to be that of 25 year old Jack Taylor who had also been found slumped over against the wall in the graveyard, exactly the same way as Daniel and Gabriel had been found. There was no disguising the fact now that a serial killer was on the loose and it's shocking that the police continued to ignore everything that friends and families of the boys were trying to tell them. 

Gabriel's friend John had even contacted some of the local LGBT support groups to see if they could get word through to the police as he was getting nowhere with them but it was the same result. The police believed there was no foul play. 

Again in this case we see the benefit of CCTV cameras in helping solve a case because it was by sheer chance that Stephen Port and Jack had been captured on camera during their meeting at the train station. Now the police decided to do their jobs and brought Stephen in for questioning, the evidence was overwhelming and finally he was put behind bars. Stephen Port has never shown any remorse for what he has done. He was given a whole life order meaning that he will never leave prison. As well as the four murders of the young boys that we know about, Stephen was also found guilty of sexually assaulting, violently physically assaulting and drugging various other young men who fortunately lived to tell the tale but are no doubt traumatised by what he put them through. 

The terrifying list of drugs that Stephen Port used on his victims are as follows Crystal Meth, GHB & GHL (which is liquid Ecstasy), Amyl Nitrate (street name: Poppers), Viagra and Meow Meow (Which is Mephedrone which produces effects that are similar to that of Cocaine and MDMA). 

Stephen Port was a dangerous predator with a history of violence and sexual abuse towards men, he should have been locked up a long time ago. Sheer ignorance and homophobia were at the forefront of this case by inexperienced and judgemental police officers and this was in 2014, not 1950. The police appeared to have the same attitude towards the gay community that they had with sex workers. Anthony Walgate, who was reported to be Stephen's first victim would sometimes do escort work as a struggling student, could this also be a factor in the lack of proper investigation by the police? As I mentioned earlier, the police have claimed that they have since partaken in more training and are now more open minded as well as more serious about such matters and their approach to any future cases, let's hope so. 

RIP to Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth, Jack Taylor and any other possible victims who are yet to be identified. Also thinking of the numerous survivors of Stephen Port and the families of victims and survivors. A special thanks also to the incredible friends and family members as well as people in the LGBT community who tried their best to get through to the police and bring justice to the victims and their families. 

Thank you as always for taking the time to read my latest post, I hope you found it to be of an interesting read. As always, please feel free to leave your comments below or contact me by email in confidence at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com 

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Stay safe and I hope to see you in my next post x