This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/25/stephen-port-metropolitan-police-gay-men-murder
The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 3 | Version 4 |
|---|---|
| Did the police not believe Stephen Port’s victims deserved justice? Did the police not believe Stephen Port’s victims deserved justice? | |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| It is hard to decide who was the more stupid and arrogant, the serial killer Stephen Port or the police officers who investigated his various murders. Having murdered Anthony Walgate, 23, in June 2014, Port simply dumped his body outside the communal entrance to his flat and called the police himself to report an unconscious figure lying in the street. Port was eventually jailed for lying about how the body came to be there. | It is hard to decide who was the more stupid and arrogant, the serial killer Stephen Port or the police officers who investigated his various murders. Having murdered Anthony Walgate, 23, in June 2014, Port simply dumped his body outside the communal entrance to his flat and called the police himself to report an unconscious figure lying in the street. Port was eventually jailed for lying about how the body came to be there. |
| When a second body, that of Gabriel Kovari, 22, was found in a graveyard near Port’s flat in August 2014, no connection to Port appears to have been made. When a third body, that of Daniel Whitworth, 21, was found in the same place by the same unfortunate dog walker three weeks later, friends of the dead men began to make connections, although the police apparently did not. | When a second body, that of Gabriel Kovari, 22, was found in a graveyard near Port’s flat in August 2014, no connection to Port appears to have been made. When a third body, that of Daniel Whitworth, 21, was found in the same place by the same unfortunate dog walker three weeks later, friends of the dead men began to make connections, although the police apparently did not. |
| Port had faked a suicide note, saying that Whitworth had killed himself out of guilt that he had accidentally killed Kovari. The police asked no handwriting expert to examine the note at the time, even after the coroner had delivered an open verdict saying she could not be satisfied about the suicide theory. | Port had faked a suicide note, saying that Whitworth had killed himself out of guilt that he had accidentally killed Kovari. The police asked no handwriting expert to examine the note at the time, even after the coroner had delivered an open verdict saying she could not be satisfied about the suicide theory. |
| The coroner also noted that the police had failed to trace “the guy I was with last night”, who the note requested should not be blamed. She also advised the police to have items found by the body tested for DNA. This was not done until after the death of a fourth man, Jack Taylor, 25, in September 2015. | The coroner also noted that the police had failed to trace “the guy I was with last night”, who the note requested should not be blamed. She also advised the police to have items found by the body tested for DNA. This was not done until after the death of a fourth man, Jack Taylor, 25, in September 2015. |
| After pressure from Taylor’s family and others the police to examined the other deaths again. The bedsheet in which Kovari had been wrapped was covered in Port’s DNA. This the police had on file, of course – Port having recently been released from jail in connection with Walgate’s death, at the time when he killed Taylor. | After pressure from Taylor’s family and others the police to examined the other deaths again. The bedsheet in which Kovari had been wrapped was covered in Port’s DNA. This the police had on file, of course – Port having recently been released from jail in connection with Walgate’s death, at the time when he killed Taylor. |
| It was not until a year after Taylor’s death, by which time Port had been charged, that the police made a public appeal for information. At no point during Port’s 15-month-long killing spree was the public warned that a serial killer might be targeting young gay men and killing them in the Barking area of east London. No one was ever given the opportunity to protect himself. Yet Port was convicted of drugging seven other men who survived, and police are now investigating 58 other unexplained deaths involving the drug GHB. | It was not until a year after Taylor’s death, by which time Port had been charged, that the police made a public appeal for information. At no point during Port’s 15-month-long killing spree was the public warned that a serial killer might be targeting young gay men and killing them in the Barking area of east London. No one was ever given the opportunity to protect himself. Yet Port was convicted of drugging seven other men who survived, and police are now investigating 58 other unexplained deaths involving the drug GHB. |
| So the killer was incompetent, the police more so. It can only be assumed that in some part of himself Port wanted to be caught, and found the police fantastically unwilling to oblige him.While 17 officers, and their roles in the investigation, are now being scrutinised, it’s all far too late for these young men. Institutionalised homophobia would in all respects be a more comprehensible explanation than the “regrettable mistakes were made”. | So the killer was incompetent, the police more so. It can only be assumed that in some part of himself Port wanted to be caught, and found the police fantastically unwilling to oblige him.While 17 officers, and their roles in the investigation, are now being scrutinised, it’s all far too late for these young men. Institutionalised homophobia would in all respects be a more comprehensible explanation than the “regrettable mistakes were made”. |
| What sort of police officer would feel no curiosity about DNA on a bedsheet found on a murdered corpse? What sort of police officer would see nothing weird about don’t-blame-the-guy-I-was-with-last-night? What sort of police officer would retain lack of curiosity when a coroner had clearly advised otherwise? | What sort of police officer would feel no curiosity about DNA on a bedsheet found on a murdered corpse? What sort of police officer would see nothing weird about don’t-blame-the-guy-I-was-with-last-night? What sort of police officer would retain lack of curiosity when a coroner had clearly advised otherwise? |
| The lack of engagement in investigating these murders beggars belief. Clearly they didn’t know Port was a killer because they were not sufficiently motivated to want to know. Perhaps these victims, in their eyes, were not worthy of justice or even of interest. I see no credible explanation for this. | The lack of engagement in investigating these murders beggars belief. Clearly they didn’t know Port was a killer because they were not sufficiently motivated to want to know. Perhaps these victims, in their eyes, were not worthy of justice or even of interest. I see no credible explanation for this. |
| It is nothing new for the police to choose to uphold their own ideas of sexual morality. It is nothing new for the police to decide that some corpses deserve justice more than others. But the sheer, mulish, blatancy of this series of blunders, and the literally annihilating price that was paid for them by people who were not much more than kids: it is so vile, so upsetting. Britain, London – we cannot have a police force capable of derelictions such as this, in which young people were apparently treated by upholders of the law as expendable, people whose lives didn’t matter. | It is nothing new for the police to choose to uphold their own ideas of sexual morality. It is nothing new for the police to decide that some corpses deserve justice more than others. But the sheer, mulish, blatancy of this series of blunders, and the literally annihilating price that was paid for them by people who were not much more than kids: it is so vile, so upsetting. Britain, London – we cannot have a police force capable of derelictions such as this, in which young people were apparently treated by upholders of the law as expendable, people whose lives didn’t matter. |
| By coincidence, Port’s conviction came in the same week as the launch of a short film, Mum, calling for the decriminalisation of laws relating to prostitution. The emphasis is on female prostitution. But since Port is known to have offered payment for his first victim to spend the night with him, I can’t help thinking that the police might have arrested him more quickly if people had felt able to complain to them before Port’s behaviour became quite so appalling, without perhaps fearing that they would be harshly judged or, perhaps, prosecuted themselves. | By coincidence, Port’s conviction came in the same week as the launch of a short film, Mum, calling for the decriminalisation of laws relating to prostitution. The emphasis is on female prostitution. But since Port is known to have offered payment for his first victim to spend the night with him, I can’t help thinking that the police might have arrested him more quickly if people had felt able to complain to them before Port’s behaviour became quite so appalling, without perhaps fearing that they would be harshly judged or, perhaps, prosecuted themselves. |
| This case highlights the extent to which the police feel free to prioritise or dismiss cases and whether this is influenced by their personal feelings about the private and consensual sexual choices of others. It’s legal to be gay, but some people don’t like that. | This case highlights the extent to which the police feel free to prioritise or dismiss cases and whether this is influenced by their personal feelings about the private and consensual sexual choices of others. It’s legal to be gay, but some people don’t like that. |
| The law also enshrines the right to condemn such private and personal choices. It’s illegal to solicit for paid sex, even though you can hire your body out for all sorts of other things, and many people do like that. | The law also enshrines the right to condemn such private and personal choices. It’s illegal to solicit for paid sex, even though you can hire your body out for all sorts of other things, and many people do like that. |
| The lack of a consistent message about bodily autonomy can surely only confuse many of the stupid, cruel moralists, some of whom may also call themselves police officers. Still, the law must support every single one of us in the task of protecting our sexual autonomy from predators such as Port. Officers don’t get to pick and choose. | The lack of a consistent message about bodily autonomy can surely only confuse many of the stupid, cruel moralists, some of whom may also call themselves police officers. Still, the law must support every single one of us in the task of protecting our sexual autonomy from predators such as Port. Officers don’t get to pick and choose. |