Grindr serial killer Stephen Port ‘obsessed’ with date rape porn, inquests hear

Grindr serial killer Stephen Port had an “absolutely incessant” obsession with date rape porn, a London inquest has heard.

Port was given a whole-life order for the murders of Anthony Walgate, 23, Gabriel Kobari, 22, Daniel Whitworth, 21, and Jack Taylor, 25, in 2016.

He lured the men through gay hookup sites and drugged them with GHB before dumping their bodies near his flag in Barking, east London, between June 2014 and September 2015. A long awaited inquest into the men’s deaths is now underway in London.

DI Mark Richards, the case officer on Operation Lilford – which was launched after it emerged that the four deaths were linked – told the inquest that investigators found Port had watched violent pornography “all day, every day,” according to The Guardian.

Stephen Port’s porn habit was “absolutely incessant”, Richard said. “It was all day every day. There were hundreds of thousands of lines of messages.”

He said Port would watch “a considerable and extensive amount” of drug rape porn, which he would watch for long stretches of time on his laptop.

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

Stephen Port would continue watching date rape porn while his victims were in his flat

The serial killer would only take a break from watching violent pornography and messaging men on hook-up websites in order to meet his victims. The inquest heard that Port never gave out his personal address – instead, he would meet men at Barking railway station and bring them back to his flat from there.

Stephen Port would often continue watching violent date rape pornography once he had returned to his flat – even when his victims were still at his residence. After he carried out his crimes, Port would dispose of his phone or SIM card, Richards said.

The inquest – which was delayed due to COVID-19 – is expected to go on for 10 weeks. Ahead of the inquest, the Metropolitan Police issued a formal apology for its handling of the case.

A bungled police investigation meant that the murdered men’s deaths were initially recorded as drug overdoses. The result was that Port was able to continue his killing spree unchecked.

Police finally started to investigate the murders after friends and family of the victims noticed similarities between the cases and highlighted this to PinkNews.

Commander Jon Savell of the Metropolitan Police acknowledged the force’s failings in the case and issued an apology ahead of the inquest.

“It is extremely important to us that members of the LGBT+ communities trust the police and feel confident they are being provided with the best possible service,” Savell said.

“At the time of Port’s conviction, we apologised to the victims’ families and Mr Whitworth’s partner for how we initially responded to the deaths, and I would like to apologise again.

“Since Port’s offences came to light we have worked hard within the Met to improve both our processes and our wider knowledge across the organisation of a range of issues associated with the murders.

“We will not prejudge the findings of the inquests but we will review any more improvements the jury and coroner identify that we need to make.”