In Jack’s pocket Port left a bottle of GHB, a tourniquet and some medical wipes. The following day, Port deleted his account and took Jack’s body over to the same churchyard where he had left Gabriel and Daniel. Port killed Jack after meeting him on 13 th September 2015.
#GRINDR MURDERS DRIVER#
Just under a year later, 25-year-old forklift truck driver Jack Taylor would become Port’s fourth and final murder victim. Nor were they linking Anthony’s death to them. Port was trying to blame an earlier murder on his latest victim.Īt the time, local media reported that police were not looking for suspects in the deaths of Gabriel and Daniel, describing their deaths as unusual and confusing but not suspicious. With Daniel’s body was a note that stated he had taken his own life because he felt guilty for killing Gabriel Kovari.
Again, a bottle of GHB was found in Daniel’s pocket and his phone was nowhere to be seen. Daniel was found by the same dog walker who discovered Gabriel. Having killed Daniel, the following day, Port deleted his account on the dating site and carried his body to the grounds of Barking Abbey, leaving him close to where Gabriel had been left. Port and Daniel had agreed to meet on 18 th September. A dog walker discovered his body.Ī few weeks later, 23-year-old chef Daniel Whitworth was Port’s next victim. Gabriel had a bottle of GHB in his pocket. On 28 th August, Gabriel’s body was found propped up against a wall of the churchyard in the ruins of Barking Abbey, close to Port’s home. Port told friends that Gabriel had just walked out one day and he didn’t know where he had gone. On 25 th August, Port administered a fatal dose of GHB and assaulted Gabriel. Kovari was Port’s flatmate of only two days. Just over two months later, Gabriel Kovari – who worked in a London shop – was murdered by Port. Port received a short prison sentence for perverting the course of justice. He lied to the police and said Anthony had taken the GHB himself and he’d moved his body outside because he was scared they would think he had killed him. He did not care whether they lived or died.Īfter killing 23-year-old fashion student Anthony Walgate on 17 th June 2014, Port left his body on the path outside his flat, putting a small bottle of GHB in Anthony’s pocket. Port’s callous disregard for the lives of his victims is shocking. He used a substance called GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyrate) or the similar GBL (gamma-butrateactone). Having met his victims on Grindr or dating sites, Port drugged and sexually assaulted them. Exploring contemporary attitudes to gender and sexuality and confronting the stubborn persistence of homophobia in our culture are all crucial to understanding what enabled Port to cause as much harm as he did.
However, focusing upon these elements can sometimes distract us from some of the bigger and more pressing issues – issues that are not new and are intricately woven into our social fabric. Indeed, I have researched the use of social media by killers for several years now, exploring how homicide perpetrators use Facebook and exploring the meaning of homicide confessions posted on social networking sites. Much of the media coverage of the story and the subsequent popular interest in the case focused upon this new way that killers and sexual predators could access their victims. Port was named ‘The Grindr Killer’ by the tabloid press because he accessed many of his victims through the Grindr dating app. He is one of only 50 people in England and Wales to receive a whole life sentence, meaning that he will never be released from custody and will die in prison. In November 2016, 41-year-old Stephen Port was convicted of the murders of Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth and Jack Taylor. Professor Elizabeth Yardley, Professor of Criminology and Director of the Centre for Applied Criminology, explores what the Stephen Port case tells us about gender, sexuality and hierarchies of victimisation in the Twenty-First Century.