Police never analysed Port’s computer at the time. His death was still not treated as murder, and Port was released on bail. Police confiscated Port’s laptop, took his DNA, and tests later found that Walgate had the date-rape drug GHB in his system at the time of his death. He said dragged him out into the street, worried that he would be implicated. He said he left Walgate in bed, but had panicked when he returned home to find him unconscious. Port eventually admitted that was the case and said that Walgate brought drugs with him, and had later stayed the night. They arrested him on suspicion of perverting the course of justice In a witness statement, Port told police that he had returned home to find the 23-year-old Anthony Walgate in the street and had tried to wake him before calling an ambulance.Īfter further investigation, police discovered that Port was lying, and that he had actually hired Walgate as a sex worker. The call had been made by Stephen Port and his body had been found outside Port’s house. When police and paramedics arrived, they found the boy dead. The Grindr killer murdered four young, gay men before being caught by policeĪt 4.18 am on 19 June 2014, emergency services received an anonymous call saying that a “young boy” looked like he’d collapsed on the street in Barking. Two weeks later, Port met his first murder victim. Police noted that Port was “worried and jittery”, but he claimed that his victim had been intoxicated when he arrived. He began to panic, so Port physically supported him to get him to Barking station, while the man continued “screaming and shouting”.Įventually, they caught the attention of the police. Port gave him a “glass of water”, and he lost consciousness immediately, before waking up on the floor with his underwear having been removed. On another occasion, in 2014, Port drugged another victim, a Muslim man in his early 20s. He lost consciousness again, and in the morning Port behaved as if nothing had happened. The victim fell unconscious, before briefly waking while Port was raping him. This “sludge” turned out to be the date-rape drug GHB. Port offered him a glass of wine, which he remembered “tasted bitter”, and he noticed that there was “sludge at the bottom of the glass”.
The encounters soon became violent.įor example, one victim said during Port’s trial that in 2012, when he was a teenage student, he met Port on Grindr and went back to his Barking flat. Port used dating apps like Grindr to seek out young gay men, before bringing them back to his apartment for sex. When dating apps became more popular in the early 2010s, Port began trying to make his twisted fantasy a reality. He told the inquest jury that one laptop seized by police during their investigation contained “hundreds of thousands of lines of messages” relating to sex, drugs and porn, and that he would view “drug rape” material for “hours at a time”. Investigators said they have linked multiple robberies to a specific Grindr profile, but declined to elaborate at Wednesday’s news conference, citing the ongoing investigation.Giving evidence at during the inquests, DI Mark Richards described how Stephen Port had an “absolutely incessant” obsession with “drug rape” pornography. Police believe one person is responsible for most of the robberies in Zone 1 and said additional suspects are likely involved in the Zone 3 heists. The victims are typically lured to remote locations after their dates and then robbed. Most of the incidents have taken place in northwest Atlanta, but some have occurred in Zone 3 in the city’s southeastern quadrant, authorities said. The vehicle was later recovered, but investigators are still trying to figure out who is responsible for the string of robberies. The suspect then drove off in the victim’s car, police said.
Shortly after they arrived, however, his date pulled out a gun and told him: “Give me the car and everything you got.” Late last month, one man said he was carjacked by someone he met on the app after picking up the suspect and driving him to an area off Hightower Road.