Inquest Findings and Accountability

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You have probably heard this phrase, Mbe you have even said it, but beneath the sort of lighthearted nature of this meme is something very real and important growing sense that staying in touch with our humanity and being present in our bodies Matters more than ever in today's digital world. My name is Manushh Zamaroti, and I am taking over as host of Ted Talks Daily this week to explore what technology is actually doing to your body and mind In special interviews with scientists, doctors, parents, artists, and more, we're going to dig into your physical and mental health on tech how we think about our bodies differently now, how we relate to new innovations that are amazing, but also a little scary, and how we can live a healthier life in this high tech era. Tune in on TEedTalks Daily, wherever you listen to podcasts ACast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere AS. com Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents If you feel at any time you need support, Please contact your local crisis center For suggested phone numbers for confidential support and for a more detailed list of content warnings Please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website twenty three year old Anthony Woolgate lived and breathes fashion. It was his dream to be a famous designer, and in twenty ten, he took the first steps to make that happen Anthony left his hometown of Hull in Northeastern England to study fashion in London With his clever intellect, natural talent, and sense of humour, it didn't take him long to settle into life in the big city and develop some solid friendships free to be himself, his mother described the move as transforming Anthony from a sknt to a swan Although he was committed to achieving his career goals Finances were an ongoing issue for Anthony. He mostly survived of his government backed student loan While this helped to cover the basics, it didn't stretch very far, and Anthony found himself looking for other ways to make ends meet B twenty fourteen, Anthony, who was openly gay, started turning to occasional escort work. He was picky about his clientele, most of whom were older, well off men he met online and who treated him with respect. Anthony was also very safety conscious. When organizing a date with a new client, he always asked them for a photograph and an address ahead of time He'd then send this information to a close friend so that someone always knew where he was going and with whom typically organized to meet his clients in a public place before joining them at their home or a hotel. looping his friends in on his movements as he went He also carried a pair of scissors or a small knife as a form of protection By june twenty fourteen, Anthony was busy with exams and down to his last forty pounds He logged into his account on Sleepy Boy, an online directory for male escorts and sex workers, and responded to a message from a man named Joe Dean Joe offered to pay Anthony eight hundred pounds for a full night of his services Anthony was a little suspicious He typically charged between two hundred and four hundred pounds for two hours, so he was unsure why Joe Dean had offered such a high rate without even trying to negotiate Joe also said he lived in Barking, a riverside town in East London that is considered the least prosperous area in the entire capital and has some of the highest poverty rates in the UK. It didn't make much sense to Anthony that someone who lived in Barking would offer to pay so much Thinking it sounded too good to be true, Anthony asked Joe Dean how he could afford such an offer Joe explained that he was simply house sitting for a friend who was overseas Satisfied with that explanation, Anthony asked Joe to send through his photo, address, and a date of birth The two then arranged to meet at Barking Station on the evening of Tuesday, june sevententh Anthony texted all of the details through to a friend, followed quickly by another text that explained, case I get killed Ten weeks later, on the morning of Thursday august twenty eighth, twenty fourteen, a woman named Barbara Denham was walking her dog through the historic Saint Margaret's churchyard in Central Barking The churchyard stands on the side of the ancient Barking Abbey ruins and is one of the oldest Christian sites in England It features monuments from medieval times, as well as the graves of many prominent residents who lived in the area between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. It was a route Barbara took often as she enjoyed the peace and quiet of its waving pathways and surrounding greenery Barbara made her way through the back of the churchyard at around nine o'clock that morning She noticed something out of the ordinary Sitting up against the wall was a young man He was wearing a pair of dark sunglasses, but they weren't on properly, and his legs were stretched out straight, with one leg draped over the other. At first, Barbara thought the man must have had a big night and was sleeping it off walked her dog through the same area the previous evening, and he hadn't been there then Something about the way he was positioned didn't seem right to Barbara If the man had passed out, surely he would be lying on the ground instead of sitting in such a way Barbara approached the man and noticed that his clothes looked slightly disheveled She reached out to touch him His skin was cold Barbara called emergency services and the police Paramedics promptly arrived at the scene, declaring the man to be deceased A search of his body didn't immediately indicate a cause of death There were no visible injuries, and the officers didn't think he looked like a typical drug user. With him were two black bags containing various possessions, including toiletries, medication, paperwork, and an empty bottle of vodka. He was also carrying a wallet which identified him as a twenty two year old Slovakian citizen named Gabriel Kavari Although Gabriele wasn't in possession of a mobile phone, the fact that he had other items of value with him indicated to the police that he hadn't died as a result of assault or robbery They declared his death to be unexplained, but not suspicious. The body was sent to be autopsied while the police examined the paperwork in Gabrielle's bag They discovered that he had only arrived in England around six weeks earlier, and there was only one name and address they could link him to thirty five year old John Papepe was working from home at his flat in South London when the police knocked on his door and announced that Gabrielle Cavari had been found dead in a barking cemetery John was flabbergasted He had met Gabrielle on a gay networking site only weeks earlier Knowing Gabrielle was new to the country and looking for a place to live, John had offered his spare room while he found his feet Gabrielle warmly accepted, with the intention of staying just a couple of weeks During that time, the two got along well They went for drinks at the local pub and watched DV Ds at home John found Gabrielle to be sweet natured and intelligent. a recent university graduate who spoke fluent English and was learning Arabic. Gabrielle hoped to work as an interpreter for the UK's National Health Service or the police. In the meantime, he accepted a job in a shop, and John helped him set up a bank account so he could receive pay. The two week stay quickly turned into six, but John's flat was small and undergoing building work So Gabrielle started looking for somewhere else to live On Thursday august twenty first, twenty fourteen He suddenly announced that he'd found a flatsare embarking and would be moving out the next day John was a little taken aback, but he didn't pry The two had a farewell drink together, and Gabrielle moved out on Friday, august twenty two. with the John letting him know he was welcome back if things didn't work out at the new place. After he left, Gabrielle sent John a friendly text message from an unknown number. Three days later, on Tuesday, august twenty sixth John messaged Gabrielle to see how he was settling in There was no reply John Pape couldn't tell the police much about Gabriel He knew that he'd previously lived in Spain with his boyfriend and that his Facebook account was under the slightly different name of Gabrielle Klein But John couldn't shed any light on how Gabrielle might have died He still had a key to John's flat, which made it unlikely that he'd died of exposure Besides, it was still summer and the weather had been warm And as far as John was aware Gabrielle wasn't suicidal and he didn't use drugs After the police left John struggled to wrap his head around Gabriel's death Feeling unsettled and wanting to know what had happened, he sent a text to the unknown phone number that Gabrielle contacted him from shortly after moving out and asked the recipient to call him back The owner of the phone was a man named Cosmo He called John and explained that he'd met Gabriel online a couple of years earlier, and that the two had caught up a few times after Gabriel moved to the UK When John broke the news that Gabriel was dead Cosmo sounded genuinely shocked and upset He said he'd last seen Gabrielle after he left at John's place dropping him off in Uptham Park so he could travel on to his new flat in Barking Cosmo didn't know where exactly Gabriel had moved to or with whom But he did recall that Gabriel used his phone to send a message to his new flat mate Cosmo checked his phone but couldn't find the message, concluding that Gabrielle must have deleted it sharing John's concerns Cosmo contacted his phone provider and obtained the number that Gabriel had texted John then messaged it, asking the recipient to contact him regarding Gabriel He never heard back On Wednesday, september tenth, a message appeared on Gabriel's Facebook page from someone called John Luck. According to Luck's profile, he was a twenty one year old former porn actor from Los Angeles, who was currently living in the next town over from Barking Gabriele's ex boyfriend, Thieri, who lived in Spain, saw the post from John Lke and messaged him privately to let him know that Gabrielle had died I'm so, so sorry, Luck responded He was such a nice guy Tieri that he was the person Gabrielle had gone to stay with after moving out of John Ppe's place on august twenty two He said they'd gotten along well and had slept together, but that Gabrielle spent a lot of time on the gay dating app grinder He began talking to an older man named Tony, who seemed desperate for Gabrielle to go and stay with him even offering him money to do so. Bark said that on the morning of Sunday august twenty fourth, he was getting ready to leave for Uni when Tony arrived at his place Tony and Gabrielle went for a walk, and when they returned forty five minutes later, Tony started packing Gabriel's things into his car and they then left together John Luck didn't know much about Tony, other than the fact that he drove a green Toyota, had white hair, and spoke with an Irish accent. He told Thieri he'd try and find out some more details about him Meanwhile, Gabriel's postmortem examination indicated that his death was caused by a drug overdose There was no evidence of bruising, wounds or any other injuries Samples were taken for toxicological testing, and the result confirmed that Gabrielle had taken a fatal dose of gamma hydroxybutyrate, or GHB GHB is an illegal and potent central nervous system depressant used primarily as a recreational drug Known for its euphoric and sedative effects, it is also considered to be a date rape drug due to being hard to detect if slipped into a drink There is a very fine line between what constitutes a recreational dose of GHB and a potentially fatal one especially if mixed with alcohol or other drugs, as it was in Gabrielle's case Testing had also revealed a low blood alcohol readating as well as high levels of maphodrone, a synthetic stimulant that is often described as being like a mix between speed, ecstasy, and cocaine Based on those findings, the police declared Gabriel's death to be from a mixed drug overdose. Theking area had a high incidence of drug use and drug related deaths weren't uncommon Plus, in the police's view, Gabrielle was essentially unhoused and therefore more vulnerable What was initially considered to be a fairly open and shut case soon became something else, entirely Just after eleven o'clock on the morning of Saturday september twentieth, twenty fourteen Barking resident Barbara Denham took her dog on their usual walk through Stt Margaret's churchard Undeterred by the grizly discovery of Gabrielle Cavari's body just twenty three days earlier Barbara once again followed the paths that weaved through the back of the churchyard. When she got to the spot against the wall where Gabriel's body had been found She froze Believe this, Barbara thought This can't be sitting in the same L shaped position as Gabrielle was another young man Barbara approached the man He was tall and thin, with short dark hair bedsheet was draped over him, and there was a black table mat underneath his legs He was cold to the touch, and it was obvious that he'd been dead for some time. On his chest was a plastic envelope with a messy handwritten note inside I am sorry to everyone, mainly my family, it read I can't go on anymore I took the life of my friend, Gabrielle We was just having some fun at a mate's place, and I got carried away and gave him another shot of G. didn't notice while we were having sex that he had stopped breathing. I tried everything to get him to breathe again But it was too late It was an accident, but I blame myself for what happened, and I didn't tell my family I went out I know I would go to prison if I go to police, and I can't do that to my family At least this way, I can be with Gabrielle again I hope he will forgive me. Please do not blame the guy I was with last night We only had sex, then I left He knows nothing of what I have done I have taken what G I had left with sleeping pills Im feeling dizzy now, so hoping you understand my writing I dropped my phone on way here, so should be in grass somewhere Sorry to everyone Love always, Daniel P. w Barbara called the police, and they promptly arrived at the scene In Daniel's pockets, they found a small brown bottle containing GHB, as well as some white powder, an unused syringe and a tourniquet There was no visible cause of death, but based on the evidence at hand, the police assumed they were dealing with an intentional overdose Daniel's body was taken away to be autopsied, the police got to work, tracking down his family to deliver the news Wedworth was at home when the police knocked on his door to tell him that his son had died Adam couldn't believe what he was hearing twenty three year old Daniel was his only child, and the two had an incredibly tight bond Adam had raised Daniel as a single parent, and he hadd always been the apple of his father's eye. Six years earlier, Adam met his partner, Amanda, and she too fell in love with Daniel. proudly taking on the role of stepmother The idea that Daniel could have taken his own life was unbelievable to Adam and Amanda Although Daniel had struggled a bit growing up and had some ongoing issues with his mental health, life had been going well for him recently He was in a stable, long term relationship with his living boyfriend, was close to his family, and had a talent for cooking that had led to a career as a chef haaving worked for a catering company for some time Daniel had recently been offered a position working at a spa resort in Kent, which was much closer to where he lived, and he was looking forward to the shorter commute. He and his boyfriend had plans to move and had even been talking about marriage Adam told the police that Daniel had a very reserved personality and that while he could sometimes go overboard with alcohol He never touched drugs. He also had no connection to barking, and Adam couldn't think of any reason for him to be there The police didn't tell Daniel's parents about the contents of his purported suicide note Instead, they emailed thre a copy of the bottom of the note, which contained his final goodbye, and asked if they recognized the handwriting Adam and Amanda couldn't be sure The sample was only short and the digital copy wasn't very clear Also, the vast majority of their recent written communication with Daniel had been via text Without seeing more of the letter, they couldn't make an accurate judgment as to whether or not the writing was his The pololice told them not to worry They would have a handwriting expert analyzed the letter against some birthday cards from Daniel that the Whitworths had provided As for the letter, the police said that only Adam could see it in its entirety and only in due course Meanwhile, Daniel's autopsy provided no clear cause of death until toxicological testing confirmed what investigators presumed from the get go. like Gabriell Cavari before him Daniel Whitworth had died from a fatal overdose of GHB. Daniel's parents were desperate to see the note for themselves, not to ascertain whether or not he had written it but to see if it offered any clues as to why he'd taken his life No matter which way they looked at it They just couldn't believe that Daniel would ever kill himself The police eventually told them how Daniel had said that he was riddled with guilt after accidentally killing someone. but his parents didn't believe that either Days before Daniel's death, the Whitworths held a small family gathering at their place Daniel had been his usual self, showing no signs of distress or upset Daniel's parents knew him to be a caring person If he'd been responsible for someone's death He wouldn't have been able to keep that hidden Likewise, Daniel's boyfriend hadn't noticed anything about his behavior to indicate that something was wrong Nor could he think of a time when Daniel's whereabouts were unaccounted for for long enough to have committed the alleged crime weeks later, the police took the Whitworths to see the spot where Daniel was found. Standing in St. Margaret's churchyard, they found themselves asking even more questions Daniel wasn't religious, so if he was going to kill himself, Why do it in a churchyard Why in barking of all places Daniel had a slight build How then, his parents wondered, had he physically carried a grown man out of a mate's house, as the letter claimed, and all the way to this spot without raising any alarms After visiting the site, Adam and Amanda were finally shown the full suicide note They prepared themselves for an emotional onslaught but were instead surprised to find that the note was oddly cold and clinical Nothing about it sounded like Daniel's voice, and it seemed strange that he hadn't mentioned any specific family members But they were also struck by the strangeness of the lion didnid't tell my family I went out. Daniel hadn't lived at home for years, and his parents had no idea of his daily comings and goings So why write that And who was the man he said he'd been with on the night that he died Worth shared their concerns with the police, who told them to remember that Daniel had been under the influence of drugs, which could have affected how he wrote As for the man he'd been with They didn't know who that was and said they probably never would. While all this was going on, Gabriellel Cavari's ex boyfriend, Thieri received another Facebook message from John Larkke The man who claimed Gabrielle had mysteriously gone off with someone he'd met on Grinder in the days before he'd died A mate, Luck wrote have managed to find the guy Gab left with His name is Tony Fery He lives in Kilburn Park Luck explained that he'd messaged Tony to ask what had happened to Gabriel Tony told him that Gabrielle only spent one night with him During that time, he said Gabrielle had been chatting to a young guy named Dan on Grinder. Dan invited Gabrielle to a sex party in barking, and Gabrielle agreed to go Dan went to Tony's house and the three had a drink together and chatted for a while before Gabriellele grabbed all his stuff and left for the party with Dan When Luck told Tony that Gabrielle was dead Tony told him to leave him alone, saying that he wanted nothing to do with it Over time, John Lke managed to obtain some further information, which he also shared on Facebook Apparently, the party Gabriel had gone to was what was known as a chem sex party, a gathering where guests used drugs to facilitate and enhance long sexual sessions with multiple partners These sessions can last for days and often involve unprotected, high risk sexual activity. Luck said that during these parties, older men were known to ply the younger ones with the drugs and then take advantage of them once they passed out They gave them shots with the dope inside, he wrote Coke kinds of shit Thieri shared everything he knew with Gabriel's former flatmate, John Pabe, who was still struggling to make sense of Gabriel's death unsatisfied with the police version of events, and convinced there was more to Gabriele's overdose than met the eye John sat at his computer in the days following Gabriel's death and tried to find some answers. into a search engine, he typed Uexplained deaths embarking as he scrolled through the most recent links A newspaper article from just two months earlier left him stned. file will be back shortly Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors Introducing the total Solutions advantage only from Comcast Business. 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Download the Amazon Music app today Thank you for listening to this episode's ads By supporting our sponsors, you support CaseFile to continue to deliver quality content It was four hundred five on the morning of Thursday, june nineteenth, twenty fourteen, when a call came through to nine hundred ninety nine, the UK's National Eergency Services line, requesting an ambulance on Cooook Street embarking There's a young boy, the Myao Cola said Looks like he's collapsed outside I don't know. Looks like he's collapsed or had a seizure or something or he's just drunk The operator asked the man for the phone number he was calling from. The man mumbled something about having to get into his car before the call abruptly disconnected An ambulance quickly arrived on Cook Street, a short stretch of road housing several blocks of multi story flats and parking spaces was unable to locate the collapsed individual. The nine hundred and ninety nine operator traced the number and called the man back, asking him to confirm the incident's location Oh, I've just driven away now, the man said adding that he'd only seen the collapsed person while driving past, but that he'd looked about twenty years old. He didn't know if he was still breathing or not Eventually, at four eighteen AM, the ambulance officer located the individual sitting on the ground outside a block of flats at sixty two Cook Street He was propped up against the wall with his t shirts scrunched up as though he'd been pulled along He was extremely cold to the touch, and the officer could tell that he'd been deceased for quite some time The ambulance officer covered the man's body with a blanket and phoned the police The first two attending police officers searched the man's belongings and identified him as twenty three year old Anthony Walgate, a fashion design student from Gold's Green in Northwest London Anthony was in possession of a small carryle, his bank card, his public transport card, several prescription medications, and a small brown bottle containing white powdery residue. He had no mobile phone, and the fly on his jeans was undone and broken The officers also noticed what looked like a footprint on Anthony's chest Coupled with the positioning of his body, and the fact that the caller who reported finding him had been described as being unsure and apprehensive They wondered if they were dealing with a suspicious death The police inquired as to whether there were any CCTV cameras in the area But no relevant footage was found They traced the phone number of the nine hundred and ninety nine caller and identified him as thirty nine year old Stepehven Port They also discovered that he lived in the very building that Anthony's body was found in front of Police knocked on his door But there was no Ww A forensic medical examiner arrived on the scene and declared that Anthony had likely been dead for around eight hours, possibly longer, with Rgor Mortis having already set in However, they dismissed the apparent footprint on his chest, identifying it as hypostasis, a natural part of the decomposition process where blood or fluid accumulates in the body They also noted that epilepsy should be looked into as a possible cause of death deamed that whatever had happened to Anthony, didn't look suspicious The crime scene manager was concerned about the positioning of Anthony's body, as the location where he was found didn't seem like a place where somebody would be sitting She also noted that his underwear was on backwards and inside out, and the t shirt he was wearing looked much too big for his slender frame Finding no obvious wounds or signs of trauma, she arranged for his body to undergo a special postmortem She suspected they were likely dealing with a drug related death, but couldn't rule out the possibility of third party involvement Meanwhile, the flatmaate of Stephven Port, the man who had called nine hundred and ninety nine, came home and let the police inside. They found Pord asleep in bed and woke him up Fort explained to the police that he'd arrived home at around four AM after working a night shift to find the young man lying on the ground, blocking the communal entrance to the building in an attempt to wake him up Port slapped the man in the face This caused him to make a gurgling sound, but it didn't wake him up Ct then dragged the man by the armpits and propped him up against the wall before going inside, calling an ambulance, and going straight to sleep The courourt's account that Anthony had made a gurgling sound at around four AM was at odds with the medical examiner's finding that Anthony was already deceased hours before the discovery of his body Port's dragging of Anthony did explain why his t shirt was tucked up and why the special postmortem conductor the next day found signs of bruising Anthony's cause of death couldn't be ascertained, but the findings were consistent with a drug overdose Samples were sent away for further toxicological testing With the results not expected back for a couple of months, the police spoke to some of Anthony's friends and learned that the fashion student moonlighted as an occasional escort They were also told that on Tuesday, june seventeenth, twenty fourteen, Anthony had left to spend the night embarking with a client named Joe Dean. According to a friend of Anthony's named China Anthony had taken some poppers with him on this visit shhort acting recreational drugs which are inhaled to give the user a mild euphoric rush and enhanceced sexual experience. China was adamant that beyond the use of poppers, Anthony didn't take any drugs and would never do so with a client If he had died of an overdose, she insisted that his drink must have been spiked or something else untard had happened Anthony had shown China a photo of Joe Dean and later sent her his birth date and address, which he gave as being on St. Anne's Road just meters from the Cook Straight Flat where Anthony was found Although Jod Dine's date of birth made him nine years younger than Stephven Pord Police were still suspicious about Port's version of events They showed China a photo of Stehven Port She said she was ninety seven percent sure that he and Joe Dean were one and the same While all of this had been going on, Anthony's mother Sarah was holidaying overseas with her phone switched off, rendering her uncontactable Three days after Anthony's body was found, she turned her phone back on and discovered the tragic news of her son's death Sarah immediately rushed back to England and was horrified to discover that the police believed Anthony had died of a drug overdose. to Sarah, that was simply not possible She and Anthony had always been close, and she was certain he would never take illegal drugs She was flummxed as to why the police weren't making a bigger deal about him not being in possession of his phone which she told them, Anthony was practically glued to. He'd also been mugged somewhat recently and had been incredibly safety conscious ever since Sarah was convinced that Anthony had fallen victim to foul play She asked the police to track his phone or check his laptop's activity But according to her They said that was too expensive However, they did run a background check on Stehven Port and discovered that he had previously been accused of rape On New Year's Day of twenty thirteen, a young man called Jacob Flynn, not his real name phoned the police to report that Port, he's on and off boyfriend of two years, had plied him with alcohol and poppers then raped him once he was incapacitated. According to Jacob, it wasn't the first time that Port used drugs and alcohol to take advantage of him Jacob was homeless at the time, having gone through a bad breakup and was described as being acutely vulnerable Fortt was arrested that same day, but Jacob quickly withdrew his complaint While he maintained that the sex was nonc consonsensial and he was uncomfortable about the amount of substances Port had given him Jacob said he'd been too scared to teleport this writing in his statement Stephen would not have known that I did not want to do these sexual acts, as I never said anything to indicate this The police took a sample of Port's DNA, but didn't press charges or pursue further action On Thursday, june twenty sixth, one week after Anthony Walgate's body was found, the police arrested Stehven Port for lying to them and he agreed to be interviewed. This gave the police two more bogus stories, before admitting that he had invited Anthony over to his place for paid sex on the night of Tuesday june seventeenth, twenty fourteen He said that the two had slept for most of the next day, and that he then left Anthony alone in his flat while he went to work a night shift Report said that when he came home at around three hundred forty five the next morning, he found Anthony in his bed, naked and unconscious, but still alive from what he assumed to be a self administered drug overdose. in a state of panic and fearing that the police might mistakenly think he had something to do with it Pt said that he dressed Anthony's body and then dragged him outside before calling nine niney nine. When asked by one of the interviewing officers why he didn't just leave Anthony in bed before calling for help. Port replied that he thought it would, quote lookooks suspicious like last time Police formally charged Pord with attempting to pervert the course of justice, but Anthony's death was still officially considered unexplained, and no charges were laid against Pord in that regard He was released on bail, while the investigation into Anthony's unexplained death continued A little over two months after Anthony's death, the results of his toxicological tests came back confirming that Anthony had died from a fatal overdose of GHB The powder in the bottle found in his pockets was also confirmed to be GHB. By this point, Gabrielle Cavari's former housemate, John Papppe, was still trying to make sense of Gabrielle's death When an online search for other unexplained deaths in Barking took him to an article about Anthony Walgate's death two months earlier John couldn't believe what he was reading. He typed the Cooook Street address where Anthony was found into Google maps and was stunned to find that it was just a couple of blocks away from Stt Margaret's churchyard a mere five or six minute waralk For John, the similarities between Gabrielle and Anthony's deaths were too striking to be ignored. Here were two young gay men of similar age, both found dead in similar circumstances. four hundred meters from one another The day that Anthony's toxicology results came back was the same day that Daniel Whitworth's body was found in Stt Margaret's churchyard. was aware that a man called John Luck had been telling stories on Facebook about Gabriel going to a camp sex party with a man named Dan Thinking this information could be helpful to the investigation, John Pepe went to the police to tell them everything he knew. However, he was surprised to find that the police seemed more or less uninterested An officer said that someone would get back to him But they never did Unsure what to do next, John reached out to two organizations that he knew had close links with the police One a new site focusing on LGBTQ plus issues, and the other a support group for LGBTQ plus survivors and victims of abuse Both organizations contacted the police to relay the information John had provided and to let them know that he was willing to help if needed Police said that wouldn't be necessary because none of the deaths were being treated as suspicious John's initial curiosity had turned to genuine concern As he later told a documentary released by the BBC, with the death count rising to three men, he was worried that his connection to Gabrielle could mean his own life was in danger John called the police and told them about his safety concerns, demanding If this is murder, you have to tell me police told him not to worry What they were dealing with was unusual But it wasn't homicide. Just under a year later, in june twenty fifteen, an inquest was held to examine the circumstances of Daniel Whitworth's death. During their dealings with the police, Daniel's family had been clear that they couldn't be certain that the handwriting on the supposed suicide note was Daniels police had assured them that the writing would be examined by an expert They were therefore shocked to learn during the inquest that this expert assessment had never taken place The police said that the handwriting had been positively identified as Daniels by comparing it to wrriting from his diary This wasn't the only detail that Daniel's family was now hearing about for the first time They were told that bruising had been found on Daniel's chest as well as under his armpits, which the pathologist attributed to him being moved prior to his death. While the police acknowledged this possibility They reasoned that the bruising could have been caused during consensual rough sex, citing Daniel's reference in his suicide note to spending the night with another man One officer claimed that Daniel clearly led a double life that his partner knew nothing of The police told the coroner that attempts had been made to find the man mentioned in Daniel's suicide note, with no success It was also the first time that Daniel's family heard his body had been found on a blue bedsheet The detective told the coroner that the sheet hadn't been tested for DNA because they didn't think an external party was involved in Daniel's death A bottle of GHB found in Daniel's pockets wasn't tested for fingerprints for the same reason The coroner was critical of these decisions, saying that the failure to test these items or identify the man Daniel mentioned in his note meant there were many aspects of his death that hadn't been answered by the police investigation. ultimately recorded an open verdict, concluding that she couldn't rule out the possibility of third party involvement That didn't mean that the police were required to reopen the investigation As far as they were concerned, the open finding essentially was a conclusion Daniel's parents were bitterly disappointed by this, in addition to being unsettled by the new information that had come to light They did their best to move forward Still struggling with the idea that Daniel could have taken his own life, they sought help from suicide support organizations to accept the unacceptable Two months after the inquest, on Monday september fourteenth, twenty fifteen The family of twenty five year old Jack Taylor was starting to worry Jack, a forklift driver and warehouse operative for a champagne company, lived with his parents in Dagnam the neighboring suburb to Barking. That Saturday night, he had gone out drinking with some friends before returning home at around one AM. He chatted briefly with his dad and then went to bed or so his parents thought When they woke up the next morning, Jack wasn't there didn't return home for their regular Sunday lunch. Although Jack had had girlfriends in the past, his parents suspected he might be gay or bisexual. They convinced themselves he had likely gone to meet up with someone and would reappear at any moment. When there still wasn't any word from him by Monday afternoon, their anxiety spiked Jack was a caring and considerate young man who always looked out for his family. It was completely out of character for him to stay away this long without letting someone know what he was up to justust as Jack's mum was phoning one of his sisters to see if she had heard anything. pololice knocked on her door Without so much as asking her to sit down, one of the officers announced that Jack was dead Several hours earlier, a groundskeeper had been walking through St Margaret's churchyard embarking when they found his body propped up against a wall Police had found Jack to be in possession of an unused syringe, a small brown bottle, and some white powder With no obvious signs of injury, their presumption was that Jack had died of a drug overdose He had his wallet with him, but no mobile phones. Jack's parents were beside themselves. Nothing about what they were hearing made any sense was not into drugs, and due to his job as a forklift operator, he was subject to regular drug testing at work He'd never once come back with a positive result He was also in the process of obtaining a security license and wouldn't do anything to jeopardize his ambitions. The subsequent autopsy revealed a needle mark in his right arm, supporting the theory that Jack had died of a drug overdose A further search of his clothing also revealed that he was carrying a tourniquet and aniseptic wipes Samples were sent for toxicological testing, along with the bottle and powder found at the scene two sisters, Jenny and Donna, were highly suspicious of the police version of events Although Jack was the youngest of the three siblings, he had always looked out for Jenny and Donna as though he was the oldest Funny, caring and considerate, he was considered the life and soul of the Taylor family, and in their view, there was simply no way that he could have died of a voluntary drug overdose Setting aside the fact that Jack was opposed to drugs, there was a notable problem with the autopsy findings Jack was right handed, and the needle mark was found on the same side If he'd really injected himself, it stood to reason that the needle mark should have been in his left arm Furthermore, Jack always carried his wallet in his right pocket body was found, it was in his left The fact that he didn't have his phone with him was also suspicious. could never went anywhere without it, and even carried a separate charging case around so that he never ran out of battery Ten days passed with the Taylor family hearing nothing else from the police On the eleventh day, Jenny and Donna called the police themselves to see what was going on They were shocked to learn that no further investigation was being conducted The sisters couldn't believe it They had been conducting their own research online, and it hadn't taken them long to discover that the bodies of Gabrielle Cavari and Daniel Whitworth had also been found in Stt Margaret's churchyard just one year earlier, in the abbbey on the opposite side of the wall from where Jack was found According to their research, the area had a reputation for being a gay beat, a place where men could meet for anonymous sexual encounters With three young men in their early twenties, all dying of drug overdose within meters of one another. Jenny and Donna brought the information they'd found to the police and asked if there could be a connection between the three deaths The answer was a firm no Daniel, they were told, died by suicide, while Gabrielle had been homeless and killed by accident Undeterred, the Taylor sisters continued with their own investigation, staying up late into the night to see what they could piece together. When they learned about Anthony Walgate's death on nearby Cook Street, their suspicions only grew They discovered that Gabrielle Cavari had been using Grinder in the lead up to his death, and wondered if Jack could have met up with someone using the same dating app. Jenny had seen Jack using an app with a yellow icon, like Grinder had, and she suggested this possibility to the police. They palmed it off, saying the app was likely Snapchat, which had a yellow icon too The Taylor sisters continued to raise questions, so the police eventually agreed to take them to the site where Jack's body was found Upon seeing it for themselves, Jenny and Donna were more convinced than ever, that Jack, who was an impeccably neat and tidy person would never have ventured to such a dirty area alone Much to their surprise, the police then told them that they had found CCTV footage from the early morning hours of Sunday september thirteenth that confirmed Jack had met up with an unidentified man The pair met at Barking Station before walking down the street together then parted ways once they reached a barking town square Police said that after that, Jack was captured in the footage alone, heading towards the churchyard, where his body was later found Jenny and Dononna found this hard to believe. In their view, it made much more sense that Jack had met up with the unidentified man for sex and the two had gone off somewhere together Wondering if the man seen walking into the churchyard could have been someone else entirely pushed for the Ceetve footage to be reviewed Eventually, the police relented Upon closer inspection, they realized that the Taylor sisters were right The m walking towards the churchyard wasn't Jack Taylor And Jack never parted company with the unidentified man he'd met at barking stations. At around the same time, the preliminary results of Jack's toxicological testing came back confirming that he had died of an overdose of GHB The tailors were convinced that the man Jack met up with had played a role in his death When they saw the CCTV footage for themselves, they couldn't identify him Although the police were initially hesitant to release an image of the man to the public Eventually, they agreed to do so On Wednesday october fourteenth, twenty fifteen, one month after Jack Taylor's death An officer had the seeetve footage up on his computer A detective who happened to be walking past caught a glimpse of the screen What he saw gave him goosebumps. He had worked on Anthony Walgate's case, and he recognized the man right away It was Steven Pord. Case file will be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors Introducing the tootal Solutions advantage only from Comcast Business. 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By supporting our sponsors, you support CaseFile to continue to deliver quality content As soon as Stephven Port was identified as the last person seen with Jack Taylor, the police realized the gravity of this situation The detectives who led the investigations into the deaths of Anthony Walgate, Gabrielle Cavari, Daniel Whitworth, and Jack Taylor were all called into an urgent meeting Each of the files were compared, and the suspiciously similar circumstances were laid out in detail By the end of the meeting, the police had no doubt They were dealing with a serial killer By Stephven Port's admission, they already knew that Anthony had died in his flat with CCTV footage now confirming that Port was the last man seen with the Jack Taylor Police had concrete evidence linking him to two of the four victims While there was nothing connecting him to Gabriele or Daniel, the fact that their bodies were found just meters away from where Jaxs was discovered and that they'd both died from GHB overdoses left police with little doubt that Port was behind those deaths too On Thursday, october fifteenth, Stephven Port was brought to the police station for questioning over the four deaths The forty year old had lived in Eter London for most of his life, having moved out of his parents' house and into the flat on Cooook Street eight years earlier He'd been bullied at school and dropped out early to study art, before working as a chef when art school proved too expensive Like many of his dating profiles proclaimed, Port was tall and athletic. While his profile pictures showed him with a head of strawberry blonde hair was actually bald. Blonde haair was a two pay that he typically wore when out in public. His hair wasn't the only thing he lied about on the apps. Peports prorofiles claimed that he was a TV chef Fort had appeared in a single episode of the popular reality cooking show Celebrity Master Chef. In reality He worked in the kitchen of a bus depot He also commonly lied about his age in a bid to appeal to young men Pt was open about the fact that he preferred twinks, a slang word used by the gay community to describe men in their teens or twenties who are typically slim, young looking, and somewhat feminate He described the type of man he typically went for to the police and said he sometimes invited these young men to parties where guests participated in group ses He admitted that Gabriel Cavari stayed at his flat for a couple of days back in late august, twenty fourteen after they met online During this time, he'd taken him to one such party, and that was the last he saw of him courourt outright denied that he'd given Gabrielle any drugs, but said there was a person at the party who had While Port didn't know the man personally, he said his name was Daniel Police asked where this party had been held courourt said he didn't remember Nor did he know whose house it was Asked if he'd ever gone into the abbbey behind Staint Margaret's Church, Port said that he'd been to the church itself one Christmas, but never explored its surrounding grounds He was then told that three of the four men whose deaths police were investigating were found propped up against the wall in the graveyard Port began looking increasingly uncomfortable and said he hadn't been aware of that Davin This is really serious, the detective said It's really important that you tell us the absolute truth. Port fiddled nervously with his hands and fixed his gaze downward when shown a picture of Jack Taylor studied it intently, before saying he didn't recognize Jack and had never met him In fact Port said Jack wasn't really his type, as he looked older than the men he typically went for The interviewing detective asked Port outright if he had anything to do with the Jack Taylor's death, or if he'd administered him with any drugs I did not know, Ct replied Definitely not No Bying his story for a second, police arrested Port on suspicion of four counts of murder, while a full scale investigation titled Operation Lilford began In comparison to the previous investigations which were overseen by local police teams, Operation Lilford was led by specialist homicide detectives and described as swift, painstaking, and thorough Experienced officers reviewed the available evidence and began looking into port, starting with a review of his computer and phone records they found quickly painted a harrowing picture. Anthony Woolgate was Port's first suspected victim. On june thirteenth, twenty fourteen, just days before the pair met texted a friend to say that he'd recently had sex with a man who was high on GHB and that it had been quote Like fucking a rag dooll. Seemingly inspired by this, Port had spent the day conducting online searches for terms including sleeping pills, drugs, date rape, drug porn Bys being fucked on G gaybys drug fucked sleeping That night, he logged into his sleepy boy account using his Joe Dean profile and reached out to eight different male escorts One of whom was Anthony Walgate Ford asked each of the men for photos and queried whether they would be available to spend that coming Tuesday night in barking. By june fourteenth, he was exchanging messages with Anthony while simultaneously searching for pornography that showed young men being drugged and raped This carried on until the evening of june seventeenth. When Anthony arrived for the Onighter as planned Port, posing as Joe Dean, had offered Anthony eight hundred pounds for one night of his services Police checked Port's financial records and discovered that he didn't have anywhere near that much money in his account at the time which suggested he never had any intention of paying Anthony last used his phone at around ten PM on Tuesday, june seventeenth, when he met Paord at Barking station By two fifty seven AM on Thursday june nineteenth disconnected his laptop from the internet and then one hour later, called nine hundred ninety nine to report Anthony's death This was where the police made their first big mistake A forensic examiner on the scene had declared that Anthony had been dead for around eight hours, possibly longer This completely contradicted Port's account that he'd found Anthony unconscious but alive in his bed upon his return from work However This information hadn't been passed on to the attending detective and therefore didn't trigger further investigation Reviewing the evidence of Operation Lilford, investigators believed that Port had likely administered an overdose of GHB to Anthony sometime on Wednesday june eighteenth, with the intention of raping him while he was unconscious Whether intentionally or not, Anthony died as a result. then went to work before calling nine hundred ninety nine upon his return and fabricating the story about finding Anthony unconscious from a self administered overdose Then came the next big mistake for barking police In the UK, there are two distinct information systems used by law enforcement The first is the Police National Computer, or PNC a real time system that features records on convictions, cautions, reprimands, warnings and arrests The other is the Police National database, which keeps a record of soft local police intelligence, such as the details of allegations or investigations that didn't lead to any further action or arrests. When Stephen Port spoke to the police in the wake of Anthony Wolgate's death A check of the PNC revealed the recent allegation from poor sex boyfriend Jacob Flynn. in which he claimed that he'd been drugged and raped by Port. Not only did the police not speak to Jacob in the wake of Anthony's death If they had run a more thorough check on port using the PND They would have found that Jacob wasn't the only one who had accused him of drugging and sexual assault. Wednesday june fourth, twenty fourteen, two weeks before Anthony died Aport pololice responded to a call that a young man was being assaulted at Barking station. They arrived to find twenty year old Ashton, notot hiss real name. violently ill and in a distressed state He was incoherent, disoriented, unsteady on his feet, and vomiting green liquid. Ashton wasn't alone. Stepven Port was with him, rifling through his bag Ford explained to the Transport police that he knew Ashton from an online dating site He said they'd met up a couple of times before, but on this particular night, he'd arrived home to find Ashton standing outside of his flat under the influence of GHB report said that he'd taken Ashton to the station to try and get him home safe and explained that he was going through his bag in an attempt to find his phone According to Ashon, this wasn't the case at all He said that after meeting Port online, the two hung out a few times, and Ashton found Port to be a very nice guy onn this occasion Everything had changed Ashton told the police he'd been at Port's flat when Port gave him what he believed to be poppers to inhale After that, Ashton said he fell asleep for several hours upon waking gave him something to drink that was clear and had a harsh taste. It knocked Dashed An out immediately Ashton said that when he woke up, he was naked on the floor with an erection and no memory of what had transpired He said he needed to get home, which was when Port helped him to the station Ashton didn't press any charges because he was worried that his parents would find out But the incident was recorded on the Police National database. Had the police bothered to run a PND check on port after they found Anthony Walgate's body outside of his flat. They would have seen that he had a clear recent history of drugging and sexually assaulting young men. interestnterestingly, they had run such a check on Anthony but not on port. Even after they charged Port with attempting to pervert the course of justice for the initial lies he told about Anthony He still wasn't investigated further when it came to Anthony's death Police had confiscated Port's computer as part of their investigation into his charge of perverting the course of justice. But this was ten months after Anthony's death And even then, the report submitted was lacking in relevant data Had a full scale search been conducted when Anthony's body was found Port's online history would have revealed his disturbing and dangerous obsession And as many Lita pointed out Free lives could have been saved When it comes to unexplained deaths, it is a foundational principle of forensic science and criminal investigation that the case should be investigated as a homicide until the evidence proves otherwise ly became apparent to Operation Lilford detectives that this hadn't been followed when it came to any of the barking deaths If the local police hadn't been so quick to dismiss Gabriel Cavari as homeless and vulnerable they might have discovered what Operation Lilford investigators did that shortly after moving out of John Ppe's flat Gabrielle texted a friend to say that he'd moved into a new place in Barking He shared a pin drop to ports address on Cook Street as well as some photos of the inside of Port's Flat Port had even introduced Gabrielle to one of his neighbors, a man named Ryan. texting him to come over and meet his quote new Slovakian twink flatmate Ryan liked Gabriele and later texted Port to see how things were going Port responded suggestively I am taking good care of him He Ryan had known Stephven Port for years and described him to the BBC as having an insatiable thirst for young men Ryan lived across the street from Port and often saw men come and go from Port's flat, one after the other. The last message sent from Gabriel's phone had been on the morning of august twenty fiveth, when he texted a friend to say, I am fine, accompanied by a smiley face emoji the next day. Port changed his phone number and sent Ryan a message saying that Gabrielle had moved out to stay with some soldier guy who he'd been chatting with online. Road shhame, as I really liked him A few days later, after Gabriel's body had already been found in the churchyard, he texted Ryan again, asking if he'd seen Gabriel around, saying that his phone had been off for the past few days Miss him, Pord wrote Shame he went off with other guy. The days went by, Port added to this story, telling Ryan that Gabrielle had apparently gone back to Spain to be with his boyfriend Gabriel's death was initially treated as a drug overdose, Ryan never heard anything about it in the news or through the grape vine, and therefore never had the opportunity to go to the police with this information eventually court sent him a text that read I've got some really sad news, neighbor. Gabrielle has gone back home and has picked up a mysterious illness and he's died Whatever you do, don't mention this on Facebook to the friends and family, because obviously, they're upset enough as it is. Meanwhile, Port used a fake Facebook profile under the name of John Locke to contact Gabriel's boyfriend in Spain He drip fed him information about Gabrielle going off with an Irishman named Tony Fairy, and later said he'd gone to a sex party in barking with a man called Dan whom he'd met on Grinder Investigators confirmed the John Luckke account belonged to Port by matching the IP address used and comparing the grammar and spelling in Locke's messages to that of Port This was information John Papppe took to local police shortly after Gabrielle died which raised questions about how different the outcomes might have been if police had taken his concerns seriously Investigators also discovered that just one week after Gabriele died began chatting with Daniel Whitworth on a gay dating site called Fitlads He invited Daniel for dinner at his flat, saying they should meet for a drink first, quote So you know I'm not some psycho The two continued chatting back and forth until eventually deciding to meet on the afternoon of september eighteenth Daniel left work early and sent his boyfriend a message to say that he'd be home late marking the last contact he'd had with anyone ten thirty the next morning deleted his Fitlads account Investigators concluded that Daniel was likely already dead at this point, and that Paor later carried his body to the churchyard under the cover of darkness. An expert compared Port's handwriting to the purported suicide note found on Daniel's body and confirmed without a doubt, that the note had been written by Stehven Port It was clear that he'd fabricated a connection between Gabriel and Daniel to deflect attention from himself and it at worked. Barking police had never so much as looked at a possible connection between Daniel and any other local men despite the note explicitly saying Please do not blame the guy I was with last night Four months after Daniel's death, Stephven Portk pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice in relation to the initial lies he told about finding Anthony Walgate's body On Monday march twenty thirth, twenty fifteen, he was sentenced to four months in prison, but was released on license just two months later, on Saturday june fourth He immediately got back on the dating apps and within three months, he met Jack Taylor Operation Lilford detectives discovered that shortly after Jack returned home from a night out with friends in the early morning hours of Sunday september thirteenth He went online and started chatting to Stephven Port on Grinder At around two thirty AM, the two agreed to meet at Barking Station Jack set up the find My iPhone feature on his phone, called a cab, and arrived at their meeting place at two forty eight AM CCTV cameras then tracked the two men as they walked towards Cook Street before disappearing from view This was the last confirmed sighting of Jack Taylor, and he had no further contact with anyone else from that point on thirty five hours later, his body was found in Stt Margaret's churchyard When detectives checked Stephven Port's phone and computer, they discovered that at seven thirty AM on Sunday september thirteenth to Jack Taylor's account on Grinder, effectively deleting the series of messages they'd exchanged Later that morning, Port deleted his grinder account entirely, then texted his flatmate, who was out at the time, discouraging him from returning home Based on this series of events, the police believed that Port killed Jack shortly after they'd arrived at his flat He likely kept his body there all day before taking him to the churchyard that night planting the GHB and other supplers in his pockets to make it look like Jack overdosed to while on his own He then disposed of Jack's phone to destroy any evidence of contact between them just as he'd done with the three men before Based on the information gathered by Operation Lilford, Stephen Port was promptly charged with the murders of Anthony Wolgate, Gabrielle Cavari, Daniel Whitworth, and of Jack Taylor But the investigation was far from over Police were convinced that Port likely had other victims who hadn't been identified On his mobile phone, they'd found eighty three homemade sex videos, six of which showed him engaged in sexual activity with young men who appeared unconscious They reviewed hundreds of previously reported attacks for connections to Port, and partnered with LGBTQ plus charities and support groups appealing for any survivors of his abuse to come forward Toby Irwin, not his real name, had never forgotten something that happened to him back in twenty twelve when he was nineteen Toby had been chatting with Stehven Port on Grinder and accepted an invitation to visit his flat At first, everything seemed totally normal polite and friendly, and nothing raised any red flags He gave Toby a glass of red wine, and by the time Toby finished it He noticed that there was congealed powder in the bottom of the glass Suspecting his drink had been spiked, Toby began feeling dizzy and disoriented Unable to think straight and barely conscious, he realized he was being moved into the bedroom, but was powerless to do anything about it Ct then undressed and riped him. Afterwards, Toby confided in a friend and sought medical advice but didn't report the incident to the police. A twenty two year old man who was suffering long term effects of a head injury caused by a criminal assault, told the police that he'd visited Port's Flat in january twenty fifteen. around the time that Port was convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice The man said that Port had sparked his drink, rendering him unconscious the next day. Port showed him a video of what had happened while he was blacked out the man had been ripe Shortly after Port was released from prison, he met Eric, not his real name on Grinder Eric went to Port's flat for consensual sex, but made it clear that he was not interested in using any type of drug He agreed to let Port apply some lubricant inside his anus using a syringe type device which Port called an applicator. But as soon as the applicator was inserted, Eric felt a burning sensation, followed by numbing He suspected that whatever port had inserted hadn't been a lubricant, but some type of drug Another man told the police a strikingly similar story, saying that he'd eventually lost consciousness from whatever port had inserted, and that he'd been penetrated while in this condition Another man who was also subject to the lubrication ruse told police he'd felt drunk, but managed to keep his bearings and leave before anything further took place. Police read a series of text messages sent between Port and one of his long term partners Their exchanges made it clear that around the time all of this was going on, Port was experimenting with administering GHB anly, claiming it led to quicker absorption time. Jacob Flynn, Port's ex boyfriend who'd previously reported him for sexual assault told the police that Port had once injected something into his anus under the pretense of applying lubrication Whatever it was rendered him unconscious, at which point Port then penetrated him without his consent These reports, coupled with Port's sinister online search history, painted a clear picture about what had likely happened to the four deceased man After meeting each of them online and luring them to his flat, he plied them with the GHP, likely without their consent, to fulfill his own desire of having sex with them while they were unconscious Whether he intended to kill the man or not, Port knew the risks involved, especially after Anthony's death continue to offend in the same way. Operation Lilford detectives were able to ascertain this information in a timely manner and with relative ease, which raised serious questions about what the barking police missed along the way It appeared that the only death that had been investigated with any real vigor was Anthony Wolgate, and even that was peppered with failures from the get go along with failing to run a proper background check on port, not conducting a thorough search of his online history, or double checking the story he gave against Anthony's postmortem findings, But there were other missed opportunities too Anthony's mother had insisted that Anthony never went anywhere without his mobile phone Convinced that he hadd been murdered, she'd encouraged the police to check Anthony's computer and retrieve his phone data But her insistence was seemingly ignored Gabriel Cavari's body was found ten weeks later, and the police barely looked into his death Despite the many similarities between what had happened to him and Anthony Wldgate when Daniel Whitworth's body was found two weeks after that The staged suicide note claiming responsibility for Gabrielle's overdose seems to satisfy the police. They dismissed the insistence of Daniel's family that none of it added up, and Daniel would never take his own life. The police hadn't even bothered to confirm whether or not Gabrielle and Daniel knew one another. Inquiries made as part of Operation Lilford indicated there wasn't a single piece of evidence suggesting the two men had ever met Furthermore, on the night that Gabrielle was believed to have been killed, Phone records confirmed that Daniel brought some cakes home to his boyfriend before going to the pub He was nowhere near barking at the time Had the police interviewed his boyfriend after Daniel's body was found They would have discovered this discrepancy right away During the inquest into Daniel's death, the police told the coroner that unsuccessful attempts were made to find the man mentioned in Daniel's suicide note This was actually false No such attempts had been made Various people involved with the investigation claimed to have recommended that the bedsheet found with Daniel be checked for DNA and the bottle of GHB be tested for fingerprints No such checks were ever made, despite these being basic routine steps in any investigation Stephven Port's DNA was already in the police database at the time, and had these items been tested, they would have revealed an immediate connection Tests made as part of Operation Lilford confirmed that Port's DNA and fingerprints were on the bedsheet, the suicide note, and the bottle of GHB planted on Daniel bottle was almost identical to the one found on Anthony Wallgate Despite the fact that some of the same officers worked on several of the barking cases None of these similarities were ever raised. When the families of the four deceased manen learned of all these missed opportunities, they believed prejudice and institutional homophobia was to blame In their view, the police made an assumption about the gay community that impacted their judgment of the victims and their lifestyles This allowed the police to accept their deaths at face value Peter Tachell is a human rights activist, best known for his work with the LGBTQ plus community He publicly condemned the police handling of the case, calling it appalling that the four deaths were labeled unusual, but not suspicious If they'd been properly investigated, then a public alert could have been issued to the gay community warning that a serial killer might be on the loose The pololice Appeal for public information came in october, twenty fifteen A year too late, Tachill stated. Four young men were already dead This appeal should have been made in august twenty fourteen after the first two killings the police had done this. Further deaths may have been prevented Two of these men might still be alive Hatchell said such investigative failures echoed those of other serial killings of gay men, including the crimes of Dennis Nilson as covered in episode one hundred and forty four of Casefile. In an article for The Guardian Tachel said Although police relations with the LGBT community are vastly better than two decades ago This case is a wake up call regarding the continued inadequate attitudes and behavior of some officers By the time Stephven Port's trial commenced at London's Old Bailey in october twenty sixteen, the forty one year old faced a total of twenty nine charges In addition to the four murder charges for Anthony Walgate, Gabrielle Cavari, Daniel Whitworth, and Jack Taylor, he also faced seven counts of rape, four counts of assault by penetration, and ten counts of administering GHB to stupefy for a sexual purpose The court pleaded not guilty to all charges, maintaining that all sexual activity between him and the complainants was entirely consensual, and that any drug was done voluntarily and without his administration the stand in his own defense, telling the jury that on august twenty sixth, twenty fourteen, he had taken Gabrielle to a party where they'd met Daniel Whitworth It claimed that Gabrielle and Daniel then had sex together in front of around eleven other people before deciding they wanted some privacy. told them they could go back to his flat, and it was from there that the two had gone to the nearby churchyard to have sex claimed he had no idea what happened after that until two weeks later, when Daniel confessed to him that he'd accidentally administered a fatal drug overdose to Gabriellel Daniel was allegedly worried that he'd be caught by his DNA. court said he encouraged Daniel to go to the police with the truth, but suggested they have some fun first by taking drugs and having sex It was after that, unbeknownst to him, that Daniel went to the churchyard and took his own life Prosecution told Port that it was confirmed that Daniel had been at a pub with friends on the night that Gabrielle was thought to have died They asked how it was possible that he could have been in two places at once. courourt replied I've no idea I just to know it was as I remember it prorosecution pointed out that the handwriting expert had proven beyond a doubt that Port had written a suicide note courourt eventually conceded that he had written it but claimed he'd only done so at Daniel's request He said he yeted the line Do not blame the guy I was with last night after joking that he might be blamed himself. tracking on his previous claim that he'd never met Jack Taylor. Pord admitted that he had invited Jack to his flat and said that they had then gone to the churchyard to have sex claimed that Jack had administered drugs to himself, and Port then left him alone, at which point he had been alive and well Several of the men Port had been accused of drugging and raping also bravely took the stand or provided victim impact statements Jacob Flynn said he couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible for the deaths of the four men, as he believed he could have done something to stop Port. The trial ran for seven weeks before the jury delivered their verdict. For the murders of Anthony, Gabriele, Daniel, and Jack, the outcome was the same guilty on all counts. All up, Port was convicted of twenty two offenses against eleven men In handing down his sentence, the judge was scathing of Port's version of events He said that the stories Port fabricated about Daniel being responsible for Gabriele's death were wicked and monstrous lies, which must have caused immense distress to Daniel's family. While the judge accepted that Port had likely only intended to harm his victims rather than cause death He pointed out that Port must have realized there was a high risk of death particularly after Anthony Woolgate died Besides, his intention to only cause harm didn't mitigate the severity of what he'd done both to his victims and their bereaved loved ones. The judge added that it wasn't up to him to assess the competency and adequacy of the police investigations, saying that was a matter to be examined by others sentencing Stehven Port to life in prison. The judge stated The defendant has been convicted of the murders of four young men Each murder was committed in the course of satisfying his lust for penetrating young men whom he had rendered unconscious by the surreptitious administration of drugs I have no doubt that the seriousness of the offending is so exceptionally high that the whole life order is justified. indndeed, it is required I declined to set a minimum term The result is a whole life sentence. and the defendant will die in prison Cheers and applause erupted from the relatives of Port's victims. public gallery, someone shouted I hope you die a long, slow death, you piece of shit Investigators were pleased with the outcome, with one senior officer describing Port as one of the most dangerous individuals he'd encountered in almost thirty years on the job Life in prison was the only appropriate punishment. Oside court. Taylor's sister, Donna, who had been instrumental in unveiling Port as a serial killer, told reporters, We finally have justice for Jack and the other boys A sick and twisted scumbag will never be able to hurt or destroy any other family's life While Stephven Port's conviction was welcome news for his victims loved ones, the indisputable evidence against him raised serious questions about how the police had missed the connections between the four deaths beforefore Port's sentence was even handed down, London's Mropolitan police referred itself to the Independent Office for Police coonduct over potential vulnerabilities in its response to the deaths All up, seventeen officers were examined for potential misconduct. While the commission identified systemic failings within the metetropolitan police, it confirmed that none of the highlighted officers were found to have breached professional standards and therefore none would be disciplined for their handling of the case The loved ones of Port's victims were outraged, but hoped that upcoming inquests would shed further light Coronial inquests had already been conducted into the deaths of Gabriel Cavari and Daniel Whitworth, and after Port's conviction, the High Court ordered that these conclusions be quashed and fresh inquests held to examine each of the deaths and highlight any police failings Five years after Port's trial, the inquests finally went ahead in october twenty twenty one with evidential hearings running for eight weeks at the Barking Town Hall During this time, the missed opportunities to catch Stevenport were laid out in full Numerous friends and family members of the victims also came forward to express their disappointment in the police handling of the case, as well as the way they were treated as next of kin The inquests heard that the Met police failed to carry out basic checks, send evidence for forensic examination, and exercise professional curiosity The jury found that all of the four men had been unlawfully killed, and fundamental failures by the Met police allowed Stephven Port to continue his killing spree over a sixteen month period While the judge accepted that insufficient leadership and workload pressures contributed to a complete breakdown of investigational oversight, she concluded that the failings had probably contributed to the deaths of Gabriel Cavari, Daniel Woodworth, and Jack Taylor. She said that she would be preparing a prevention of future deeaths report A statement released on the family's behalf read We welcome today's conclusions. The jury has obviously taken great care and considerable time to return these clear failings. We feel thoroughly vindicated by their findings. The inadequate investigations by the Metropolitan pololice into the deaths should be on public record as one of the most widespread institutional failures in modern history The family said that if the police had done their job properly from the start, Gabrielle, Daniel and Jack wouldn't have been killed, and other young men wouldn't have been drugged and raped. While the law prevented the jury from considering whether homophobia, prejudice, or discrimination were factors in the mishandled investigations, the families were resolute The statement continued O position remains unchanged. Based on the treatment we received, our firmly held belief is that the Mropolitan police's actions were, in part, driven by homophobia Had four white heterosexual girls been found dead in the same manner as Anthony, Gabrielle, Daniel, and Jack then the police's actions and the likely outcomes, would have been different. Human rights advocate Peter Tachill was much more blunt in his assessment of the inquest findings, stating Evidence given at the Stehven Port Inquest revealed the police to be incompetent, negligent, unprofessional, and homophobic Every gay person who expressed concerns about the deaths was ignored, dismissed, and treated with contempt E the partner of one of the victims. That's institutional homophobia The officers involved must face disciplinary action By this point, seven of the seventeen police officers who had been investigated as part of the twenty nineteen inquiry by the Independent Office for Police Conduct had been promoted The IOPC said they would consider reopening their findings in light of the inquest, and in november twenty twenty three, it was announced that eight former and current met police officers were being investigated for gross misconduct regarding their failures in the investigations into the four deaths