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Serial killer Stephen Port jailed for rape drug murders | |
(35 minutes later) | |
A "wicked and monstrous" serial killer who poisoned four young men with lethal doses of a date rape drug has been given a whole life prison term. | A "wicked and monstrous" serial killer who poisoned four young men with lethal doses of a date rape drug has been given a whole life prison term. |
Stephen Port, 41, should die in prison, the judge Mr Justice Openshaw said. | Stephen Port, 41, should die in prison, the judge Mr Justice Openshaw said. |
The former chef, who was also convicted of a string of sex offences, lured his victims to his flat before plying them with GHB. | The former chef, who was also convicted of a string of sex offences, lured his victims to his flat before plying them with GHB. |
Port, who had denied 29 charges in total, was found guilty of the murders after a trial at the Old Bailey. | Port, who had denied 29 charges in total, was found guilty of the murders after a trial at the Old Bailey. |
The killer the police missed | The killer the police missed |
Relatives of the victims cheered and clapped as Mr Justice Openshaw told Port he would never be released. | |
The judge told Port that he had carried out the murders to "satisfy his lust" for sex with young men who were rendered unconscious. | The judge told Port that he had carried out the murders to "satisfy his lust" for sex with young men who were rendered unconscious. |
He highlighted Port's attempt to cover up two of his murders with fake suicide notes as "wicked and monstrous". | |
One fake note planted on the body of a victim alluded to responsibility for another of Port's killings. | |
Between August 2014 and September 2015, Port murdered Gabriel Kovari, 22, from Lewisham, Daniel Whitworth, 21, from Gravesend, Kent, and Jack Taylor, 25, from Dagenham, east London. | |
By a majority verdict, the jury also found him guilty of murdering Anthony Walgate, 23, from Dagenham, in June 2014. | |
The victims met Port via dating websites, including Grindr, and were taken to his flat in Barking, east London, for sex. | |
Their bodies were all found dumped in or near a graveyard within 500m of his home. | |
'Life of grief' | |
Before the sentence was handed down, statements from the victims' friends and families were read by prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC. | |
The mother of Mr Walgate said the death of her son had "devastated and broken the family". | |
Mr Kovari's brother Adam spoke of the difficulty in telling their mother of his death, saying "there is no pain greater than losing a child". | |
Daniel Whitworth's father Adam said he had been given "a life sentence of grief". | |
The family of Jack Taylor told how his murder had turned their lives "upside down". |